Hinduism    in  Europe 
and  America 


Elizabeth  A.  Reed,  A.M. 

Author  of  "  Hindu  Literature,  or  the  Ancient  Books  of  India,* 

"  Persian  Literature,  Ancient  and  Modern,"  "  Primitive 

Buddhism,  Its  Origin  and  Teachings,"  etc. 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Cbe  fmfcfierbocfeet  press 

1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914 

BY 
ELIZABETH    A.  REED 


Ube  ftnicfterbocfter  |>re«8, 


FOREWORD 

IT  INDUISM  long  remained  on  its  native  soil, 
but  during  the  last  few  years,  classes  have 
been  organised  in  Great  Britain,  and  on  the  Conti- 
nent, as  well  as  in  America,  for  the  propagation  of 
misleading  representations  concerning  its  doc- 
trines, and  the  gathering  in  of  foreign  coin. 

In  this  expurgated  system  which  is  offered 
at  first,  many  have  become  interested  without 
investigating  the  foundation  upon  which  it  stands. 
No  doubts  need  be  entertained  concerning  the 
real  teachings  of  Hinduism  by  those  who  have 
access  to  the  invaluable  series  of  "The  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East/'  prepared  under  the  editorial 
care  of  Professor  F.  Max  Miiller  and  pub- 
lished under  the  auspices  of  England's  greatest 
University.  We  have  here  translations  of  un- 
doubted integrity,  but  the  great  cost  of  the 
work  places  it  beyond  the  reach  of  many 
libraries,  and  not  only  this  but  the  vast  amount  of 
literature  therein  contained  presents  to  the  ordi- 
nary student  a  most  discouraging  prospect. 

Hi 


iv  Foreword 

We  can  well  understand  that  only  an  enthusias- 
tic specialist  would  be  willing  to  devote  years  of 
his  life  to  the  examination  of  these  thousands  of 
pages  of  exaggerated  statements,  and  abstruse 
theories,  but  common  prudence  should  prevent 
any  one  from  embracing  a  fad  without  making 
some  rational  inquiry  into  its  true  character. 

In  order  to  facilitate  such  investigation,  there 
is  need  of  smaller  volumes  giving  the  results  of 
careful  work  along  these  lines — volumes  which 
may  be  quickly  read,  and  are  free  from  technical 
terms,  so  that  they  may  be  easily  understood. 
This  condensed  information  is  especially  needed 
by  young  men  and  women,  for  they  will  be  obliged 
to  meet  in  their  own  land  the  problems  of  the 
Orient.  Indeed  the  time  is  already  here  when 
extensive  information  and  constant  vigilance  are 
needed,  as  recent  arrests  in  our  large  cities  for  the 
immoral  teachings  and  criminal  practices  of  the 
cult,  only  partially  reveal  the  extent  to  which 
the  insidious  emissaries  of  the  East  have  already 
penetrated  our  body  politic. 

When  heathen  temples  are  rearing  their  braz- 
en domes  in  some  of  our  cities,  and  these  are 
built  with  the  money  of  American  women,  sure- 
ly it  is  time  to  furnish  them  with  some  scien- 
tific data  concerning  the  real  purpose  of  the 


Foreword  v 

system  into  which  they  are  being  so  adroitly 
drawn. 

In  an  earlier  and  larger  work  the  author  has 
given  the  historical  facts  connected  with  the  age 
and  the  doctrines  of  the  old  manuscripts,  together 
with  somewhat  copious  extracts  from  their  con- 
tents; these  things  will  not  therefore  be  repeated 
here,  only  very  brief  expositions  being  presented 
with  the  chronological  framework  necessary  to  a 
connected  and  accurate  outline  of  the  subject. 

The  object  of  this  little  book  is  to  present  within 
the  smallest  possible  compass  a  correct  view  of 
this  corrupt  cult  and  also  to  call  attention  to  the 
authoritative  statements  of  standard  Hindu  works 
upon  those  points  which  are  most  frequently  mis- 
represented and  lauded  by  irresponsible  writers 
and  speakers. 

E.  A.  R. 
CHICAGO,  1914. 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

HINDUISM  :  A  COMPOSITE  SYSTEM  i 

Land  of  Contrasts.  Vedaism.  Traces  of  Monothe- 
ism. Brahmanism.  Caste.  Transmigration  of 
Souls. 

CHAPTER  II 
BUDDHISM:  A  PROTEST  AGAINST  BRAHMANISM  .       26 

Long  Series  of  Buddhas.  Birth  of  Gautama.  Great 
Renunciation.  System  of  Philosophy.  Me- 
tempsychosis. Jataka  Book.  Buddha's  HelL 
Atheism  and  Later  Polytheism.  Death  of 
Buddha.  Nirvana.  Number  of  Adherents. 
Expulsion  from  India. 

CHAPTER  III 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  HINDUISM  ....       50 

Combination  of  Theories.  Burning  of  Widows. 
The  Yoga  Philosophy.  Brahma.  Shiva.  Cere- 
monies. The  Tantras.  Kali,  Wife  of  Shiva. 
Modern  Devotees. 

CHAPTER  IV 
MODERN  HINDUISM 72 

Phases  of  Idolatry.  Temples  of  Shiva.  Shrine  of 
Kali.  Temples  of  Vishnu.  Demons  and  Devils. 
Hanuman,  the  Monkey  God.  Serpent  Wor- 
ship. Other  Sacred  Animals.  Deified  Trees  and 
Plants.  Position  of  Widows.  Pandita  Ramabai. 
vii 


viii  Contents 

CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

PRESENT  CONDITIONS 92 

Vaishnavism.  Ten  Incarnations.  Bala-raraa. 
Krishna  Vasudeva.  Wives  of  Krishna.  Death 
of  the  God. 

CHAPTER  VI 

PRESENT  CONDITIONS — Continued    .         .         .113 
Modern   Krishna   Worship.       Hindu   Gurus.       The 
Gossains.     European  and  American  Fanatics. 

CHAPTER  VII 
IMITATIONS  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY  .         .     134 

The  Work  of  Translators.  Imposition  upon  Wilford. 
Teachers  of  Hinduism.  Adam  and  Eve. 
Story  of  the  Flood.  Abraham  and  Isaac.  The 
Gita-govinda. 

CHAPTER  VIII 
IMITATIONS  OF  THE  GOSPELS   .         .         .         .153 

Modern  Productions.  King  Herod.  The  Trans- 
figuration. The  Crucifixion.  Vivekananda. 

CHAPTER  IX 
HINDUISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  .         .         .         .173 

The  Historic  Christ.  Alleged  Life  in  India.  Con- 
trasts. Non-Christian  Bibles.  The  Triumphant 
Christ. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 193 

INDEX 197 


Hinduism  in  Europe  and  America 


Hinduism  in   Europe  and 
America 

CHAPTER  I 
HINDUISM:  A  COMPOSITE  SYSTEM 

Land  of  Contrasts.     Vedaism.     Traces  of  Monotheism.     Brah- 
manism.     Caste.     Transmigration  of  Souls. 

1 NDIA  is  a  land  of  striking  contrasts ;  great  salt 
*  marshes  stretch  away  for  weary  miles  beyond 
the  fertile  valleys  where  wild  bees  hang  their  comb 
to  the  rocks  and  the  tiger  hides  in  the  jungle. 
Vast  deserts  reach  across  the  empire,  but  there  are 
also  luxurious  forests  where  the  teak  and  banyan 
flourish  and  the  fragrant  sandalwood  still  awaits 
the  coming  of  the  axe  men — where  much  of  the 
undergrowth  is  covered  with  vines  which  burden 
the  air  with  the  fragrance  of  their  blossoms. 
Arid  wastes  lie  parching  beneath  the  pitiless  sun, 
but  not  far  away  the  almond  and  pomegranate 


2.  •-'.;••  Hinduism 

spread  their  flowery  banners  upon  the  air  and 
ripen  their  fruits  in  the  long  summer  time. 

Among  her  people  there  is  want  and  woe,  side 
by  side  with  wealth  and  luxury ;  the  gaunt  shadow 
of  famine  is  thrown  across  the  multitude,  while 
petty  kings  are  resplendent  with  pearls  and  dia- 
monds. Low  caste  victims  die  of  hunger  and 
disease  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  palaces  of  the 
rajas  who  are  all  unmindful  of  their  sufferings, 
even  a  drink  of  water  being  often  denied  them 
because  it  would  ruin  the  fountain  if  any  of  its 
contents  were  polluted  by  their  touch. 

The  contrasts  in  their  literature  are  fully  as 
great  as  in  the  land  and  its  people.  In  the  songs 
of  the  Vedas,  and  also  in  the  great  epics  which 
constitute  one  grand  division  in  their  world  of 
letters,  we  find  poetry  of  a  high  order,  while  much 
of  their  later  productions  is  necessarily  either  ig- 
nored by  the  translators,  or  given  in  footnotes  of 
Latin,  or  even  in  the  original  Sanskrit. 

The  sacred  Ganges  is  fabled  to  have  fallen 
from  the  blue  fields  of  heaven,  coming  down  to 
earth  from  the  divine  feet  of  Vishnu.  As  the  Nile 
is  deified  in  Egyptian  mythology,  so  also  this  river 
is  called  a  goddess.  One  of  her  sources  is  found  in 
a  cave  of  ice  and  she  is  praised  as  Ganga,  the 
daughter  of  Himavat — Lord  of  the  Mountain  of 


Hinduism  :  A  Composite  System      3 

snow ;  but  the  river  itself  is  polluted  beyond  recog- 
nition by  thousands  of  devotees.  So  also  the 
primitive  adoration  of  mountain  and  storm  has 
been  lost  in  a  multitude  of  opposing  theories,  and 
the  unclean  worship  of  idols  representing  gods  of 
evil  repute. 

Although  the  term  Hinduism  may,  in  a  general 
way,  be  applied  to  all  the  faiths  and  philosophies 
of  that  people,  it  is  more  properly  used  to  denote 
the  manifold  phases  resulting  from  a  combination 
of  the  earlier  creeds  of  India.  It  may  be  likened 
to  a  great  banyan  tree  sending  its  roots  down  into 
any  soil  and  drawing  sustenance  from  all  possible 
sources.  It  has,  however,  no  unity  of  design, 
having  borrowed  from  every  available  cult  and 
adopted  something  from  all  of  them,. 

It  has  accepted  to  a  certain  extent  the  fetishism 
of  the  Negrito  aborigines;  it  has  encouraged  the 
adoration  of  the  fish  and  the  boar,  of  the  various 
deities  and  their  wives,  and  even  stones  and  trees. 
It  brings  oblations  to  the  serpents  in  the  mountain 
caves  as  well  as  to  the  ocean  billows  that  beat 
against  these  rocky  foundations. 

While  no  one  can  become  a  Hindu  who  is  not 
thus  born,  any  one  can  be  admitted  into  the  lower 
ranks  of  Hinduism.  Among  the  natives  all 
comers  are  welcome  who  will  bow  to  the  rules  of 


4  Hinduism 

caste,  and  admit  the  supremacy  of  the  priests,  by 
bringing  offerings  to  their  feet. 

Anglo-Saxon  admirers  are  admitted  into  the 
outer  circle  upon  still  simpler  conditions — all  that 
is  required  of  them  is  the  adoration  of  the  priest- 
hood, and  liberal  cash  offerings  for  their  support. 

Vedaism.  The  primitive  faith  of  the  Hindu 
Aryans  is  represented  in  the  Rig-veda,  which  is  the 
earliest  form  of  Hindu  literature,  and  is  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  that  the  first  literary  product  of 
any  people,  after  simple  records,  is  found  in  the 
form  of  verse.  The  Vedas  furnish  no  chronology 
— not  a  single  date  in  all  of  these  productions 
by  which  any  event,  or  series  of  events,  may  be 
assigned  to  a  proper  place  in  the  world's  history. 
Hence  the  Hindu  imagination  runs  wild  in  figures 
as  in  everything  else,  and  they  gravely  assign 
"millions  of  years "  to  the  age  of  any  of  their 
books  which  may  be  under  discussion.  Indeed  it 
has  been  claimed  that  the  songs  of  the  Rig-veda 
"must  have  been  written  before  the  flood  because 
there  is  no  mention  of  the  flood  therein"! 

Whereupon  Prof.  F.  Max  Miiller  wittily  replied: 
"If  all  the  books  which  make  no  mention  of  the 
flood  were  written  before  it,  what  a  mass  of  ante- 
diluvian literature  we  must  have!" 


Hinduism :  A  Composite  System     5 

The  concensus  of  opinion  among  the  most 
eminent  Orientalists  however  assigns  the  compo- 
sition of  the  earliest  of  these  hymns  to  the  period 
between  1 500  B.C.  and  i ooo  B.C.  There  is  a  reserva- 
tion however  to  the  effect  that  later  researches  may 
show  that  they  belong  to  a  more  modern  period. 

These  sons  of  the  southland  watched  the  heavens 
for  signs  of  the  long-needed  rain,  and  they  sang 
of  Indra  the  storm  god  driving  his  tawny  steeds 
across  the  darkened  sky,  and  using  the  lightnings 
for  his  arrows  when  he  forced  the  unwilling  cloud 
to  give  up  its  treasures. 

They  felt  the  terrible  power  of  the  tropical  sun, 
and  sought  to  appease  his  wrath -by  songs  of  praise 
— by  bringing  oblations  to  him  as  soon  as  he  came 
out  of  the  chambers  of  the  east,  with  draperies  of 
crimson  and  purple.  They  called  him  by  various 
names;  he  might  be  Surya,  Aditya,  or  Mitra,  but 
as  his  golden  chariot  rolled  across  the  heavens, 
they  fancied  they  saw  the  milk-white  horses  of  the 
sun. 

They  witnessed  the  use  and  the  havoc  of  fire 
and  sang  of  Agni,  who  was  represented  by  the 
flashing  lightnings,  and  also  by  the  clear  flame 
upon  the  hearthstone.  He  was  the  guardian  of 
the  home,  the  minister  of  the  sacrifice,  and  was 
often  invoked  as  the  creator  of  all  things. 


6  Hinduism 

The  all-encircling  firmament  was  called  Varuna, 
who  was  not  only  the  god  of  the  sky  but  also  the  sky 
itself.  He  knows  the  pathway  of  the  birds  through 
the  blue  ether,  and  the  trackless  course  of  the  ships 
upon  the  wide  ocean,  for  he  is  also  the  Neptune 
of  the  Hindus  who  rides  upon  the  waters,  or  hides 
in  the  caves  on  the  shores  of  the  seas.  He  fills  the 
halls  of  night  with  his  presence  and  draws  near  to 
his  worshipper  with  the  cooling  touch  of  evening. 

The  Maruts  or  Rudras  were,  like  Indra,  the  gods 
of  wind  and  storm.  They  were  praised  as  "  shak- 
ers of  the  earth"  and  besought  to  tear  in  pieces 
whatever  fiends  might  attack  the  people.  They 
were  termed  " worshipful  and  wise"  and  were 
supposed  to  dash  through  the  heavens  on  chariots 
drawn  by  dappled  deer. 

These  Aryan  singers  called  Yama  the  king  of 
death,  he  was  supposed  to  be  the  first  of  men 
who  died,  and  he  guides  the  spirits  of  other  men 
to  their  destination  in  heaven  or  hell.  In  later 
mythology  he  is  also  represented  as  the  judge  of 
the  dead,  but  not  in  the  Vedas. 

The  most  enchanting  of  these  early  deities  is 
Ushas,  the  fair  goddess  of  the  morning,  who  comes 
out  of  the  east  leading  the  white  horses  of  the 
sun.  Wearing  her  garments  of  silver  and  tinted 
pearl,  she  becomes  in  Sanskrit  poetry  "the  mother 


Hinduism :  A  Composite  System     7 

of  the  mornings"  and  the  infant  days  begin  their 
journey  amidst  the  clouds  that  float  around  her  feet. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  this  early  faith  was  a 
simple  nature  worship,  and  was  free  from  the  later 
pollutions  of  Hinduism. 

It  is  clear  that  the  Rig-veda  gives  no  support 
to  the  offensive  ceremonies  and  customs  for  which 
it  has  been  claimed  it  was  the  early  authority. 
Although  the  Vedic  writings  may  contain  germs 
of  the  later  systems,  they  furnish  no  support  for 
the  theory  that  after  death  the  souls  of  men  must 
pass  through  millions  of  the  bodies  of  lower  animals 
and  even  find  a  place  in  sticks  and  stones.  There 
is  no  hint  of  wedding  children  in  their  cradles,  or 
giving  a  child  of  eight  or  nine  years  of  age  to  an 
old  man — there  is  no  suggestion  of  the  barbarous 
practice  of  burning  living  women  on  the  dead 
bodies  of  their  husbands.  Neither  is  there  any 
foundation  here  for  the  later  usage  of  human 
sacrifice.  These  and  other  things  which  are,  if 
possible,  worse,  are  found  only  in  the  degradation 
of  the  earlier  worship. 

Beginning  with  the  adoration  of  the  sun  and  stars, 
the  creeds  of  the  Hindus  sank  lower  and  lower  until 
we  come  to  the  Puranas  of  the  Middle  Ages,  when 
licentiousness  becomes  a  feature  of  public  worship, 
and  even  the  conduct  of  Krishna  is  eulogised. 


8  Hinduism 

Far  better  than  modern  idolatry  was  the  primi- 
tive worship  of  mountain  and  sky  —  of  starry 
heights  and  ocean  billows.  Better  than  the  ser- 
pent and  demon  worship  of  to-day  were  the 
libations  poured  out  to  the  storm  king  as  he  swept 
through  the  heavens  on  the  wings  of  the  wind. 
Better  than  human  sacrifice  on  the  altars  of  blood- 
thirsty Kali  were  the  hymns  to  the  fair  goddess 
of  the  morning  as  she  comes  through  the  gates  of 
pearl  as  "the  leader  of  the  days"  and  marshals  her 
host  in  golden  splendour  before  the  children  of 
men. 

Traces  of  Monotheism.  In  all  of  the  old  mythol- 
ogies, the  farther  we  venture  back  into  the  past, 
the  fewer  the  gods  become,  until  we  approach  that 
sublime  monotheism  which  was  first  revealed  to 
the  children  of  men,  and  India  is  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  One  of  the  early  hymns  contains 
the  following  beautiful  sentiment  concerning  the 
mystery  of  creation: 

Then  there  was  neither  day  nor  night,  nor  light,  nor 

darkness, 

Only  the  Existent  One  breathed  calmly,  self  contained, 
Naught  else  but  He  was  there, — naught  else,  above, 

beyond.1 

1  Sir  Monier  Monier-Williams's  trans,  of  Mandala,  x.,  129. 


Hinduism  :  A  Composite  System     9 

In  order  to  briefly  state  the  leading  dogma  of  an 
early  faith  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  its 
own  formula  in  three  words  as  stated  by  its  own 
philosophers:  "Ekam  eva  advitiyam" — "There  is 
but  one  Being  without  a  second."  Nothing  really 
exists  but  one  universal  Spirit  called  Brahman. 
And  whatever  appears  to  exist  separately  from 
that  Spirit  is  mere  illusion. 

This,  according  to  the  orthodox  Hindu,  is  the 
only  true  Veda.  This  is  the  uncompromising 
creed  of  true  Brahmanism.  This,  at  least  accord- 
ing to  the  belief  of  the  generality  of  educated 
Hindus,  is  the  only  true  knowledge  to  which  the 
Veda  leads.1  Again  in  the  beautiful  hymn  to 
"The  Golden  Child,"  we  find  the  same  sentiment 
as  in  many  other  places. 

The  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  sacrifice, 

He  through  whom  the  sky  is  bright  and  the  earth  firm, 

He  through  whom  the  heaven  was  stablished — 

Nay,  the  highest  heaven — 

He  who  measured  out  the  light  in  the  air ; 

Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  sacrifice?2 

Only  a  few  of  the  hymns,  however,  seem  to  con- 
tain the  simple  thought  of  One  Divine  Self- Existent 
Being,  and  even  in  these,  the  idea  of  one  God 

1  Williams,  Hinduism,  p.  ii. 

a  Max  Muller's  prose  trans.  Rig-veda,  x.,  121. 


io  Hinduism 

prevalent  in  all  nature  is  somewhat  uncertain 
and  undefined.  The  celebrated  "Purusha-sukta," 
one  of  the  most  modern  hymns  of  the  Rig-veda, 
serves  to  illustrate  the  gradual  sliding  of  monothe- 
ism into  pantheism: 

The  embodied  spirit  has  a  thousand  heads, 
A  thousand  eyes,  a  thousand  feet,  around 
On  every  side  enveloping  the  earth. 
Yet  filling  space  no  larger  than  a  span. 

He  is,  Himself,  this  very  universe; 

He  is,  whatever  is,  has  been,  and  shall  be; 

He  is  the  lord  of  immortality.  * 

But  while  the  gods  of  the  Veda  were  few  in 
number,  and  the  oblations  to  them  were  compara- 
tively simple,  they  were  continually  multiplied 
during  the  passing  years,  until  millions  of  deities 
now  command  the  adoration,  and  the  money,  of 
the  hapless  Hindu. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  we  find  the  same 
conditions.  In  relation  to  the  early  monotheism 
of  Assyria,  it  is  claimed  that  Hea  was  one  of  the 
names  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  for  Hea  is  another 
form  of  El,  and  the  followers  of  Hea  were  evidently 
monotheistic. 2 

1  Williams's  trans,  of  Mandala,  x.,  90. 

3  Rassam,  Trans.  Vic.  Inst.,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  190-214.     See  also 

Vol.  XXV.,  p.   I2O. 


Hinduism:  A  Composite  System   n 

This  early  form  of  worship,  however,  was  soon 
corrupted,  and  ere  long  the  Assyrians  counted 
three  hundred  spirits  of  heaven  and  six  hundred  of 
earth. 

In  Egypt  we  find  similar  historical  records. 
Many  eminent  Egyptologists  claim  that  the  earliest 
monuments  show  the  primitive  religion  of  the 
Nile  Valley  to  have  been  monotheism.  It  appears 
that  when  the  Egyptians  moved  into  the  country, 
a  thousand  years  before  Menes,  they  had  only  one 
god  who  was  Nu.  Surely,  this  name  is  closely 
akin  to  Anu  who  is  described  upon  the  tablets  as 
the  supreme  God  of  ancient  Accad. 

Maspero  and  some  others  take  exception  to  the 
monotheistic  theory  but  all  agree  that  few  deities 
are  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  monumental 
history,  and  that  they  steadily  increase  until  they 
become  almost  numberless.  Dr.  W.  M.  Flinders 
Petrie  says:  "Wherever  we  can  trace  polytheism 
back  to  its  earliest  stages,  we  find  that  it  results 
from  combinations  of  monotheism/'1 

That  the  people  of  Egypt  were  once  worshippers 
of  the  true  God  is  evident  from  the  prophecy  of 
Isaiah:  "And  the  Lord  shall  smite  Egypt  and  heal 
it,  and  they  shall  return,  even  to  the  Lord  and  he 

1  Petrie,  Rel.  of  An.  Egypt,  p.  4. 


12  Hinduism 

shall  heal  them."1  The  Hebrew  word  which  is 
here  rendered  "return"  is  translated  by  the  same 
word,  or  its  equivalents,  eight  hundred  and  fifteen 
times  in  the  Old  Testament,  so  there  is  no  room  for 
philological  discussion  on  this  point. 

Prof.  F.  Max  Miiller  says:  ''Polytheism  must 
everywhere  have  been  preceded  by  a  more  or  less 
conscious  monotheism.  In  no  language  does  the 
plural  come  before  the  singular."  The  eminent 
Orientalist  shows,  however,  how  easy  it  was 
for  the  early  peoples  to  multiply  their  deities 
by  having  various  names  for  the  One  God.  "As 
long  as  these  names  were  remembered  as  mere 
attributes  of  one  and  the  same  Divine  Power, 
there  was  as  yet  no  polytheism,  though  no  doubt 
every  new  name  threatened  to  obscure  more  and 
more  the  primitive  intuition  of  God."2 

Among  the  early  families  of  China  the  same 
great  principle  prevailed.  Dr.  James  Legge,  late 
professor  of  Chinese  language  and  literature  in 
Oxford  University,  was  the  most  accomplished 
Chinese  scholar  in  Europe,  and  he  went  back  to  a 
period  five  thousand  years  ago,  before  the  time 
when  their  earliest  books  were  written,  and  found 
the  old  character  which  meant  God  to  the  primitive 
peoples  of  China.  He  says:  "Ti  was  to  the 

1  Isa.  xix.,  32.  »  Chips,  vol.  i.,  348-354. 


Hinduism:  A  Composite  System   13 

Chinese  fathers,  I  believe,  exactly  what  God  was 
to  our  fathers,  whenever  they  took  the  Great 
Name  upon  their  lips."1 

Dr.  Legge  also  gives  us  the  primitive  Chinese 
word  for  heaven  as  found  in  their  earliest  archives. 
One  of  the  words  also  found  among  these  ancient 
characters  represents  what  we  call  prayer,  or  the 
communion  of  man  with  God. 

The  old  inscriptions  of  South  Arabia  tell  the 
same  story.  Dr.  Fritz  Hommel,  a  leading  pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Munich,  has  ana- 
lysed the  names  of  the  early  families  of  this 
country,  and  has  accumulated  a  vast  amount 
of  evidence  to  show  that  the  primitive  peoples  of 
South  Arabia  were  not  only  believers  in  the 
One  God,  but  that  they  also  believed  that  He  was 
gracious  and  merciful  to  those  who  came  to 
Him  in  sincerity  and  truth  —  that  He  forgave 
sinners  and  rewarded  the  righteous.  Speaking 
of  the  polytheism  of  South  Arabia,  Hommel  says: 

This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  there  must  have 
been  a  time  in  the  history  of  Arabia  when  these  gods 
...  a  number  of  whom  were  certainly  imported  from 
the  outside — did  not  receive  worship,  and  when  some 
higher  form  of  devotion  of  a  type  which  reminds  one 

1  Dr.  Legge,  Religions  of  China,  p.  ii. 


14  Hinduism 

of  what  we  are  told  about  Melchizedek  in  the  Old 
Testament  must  have  prevailed.1 

Brahman  in  Sanskrit,  originally  meant  Power,  the 
same  as  El.  It  resisted  for  a  long  time  the  mytho- 
logical contagion,  but  at  last  it  yielded  like  all  the 
other  names  of  God.  .  .  .  This  primitive  intuition  of 
God,  and  the  ineradicable  feeling  of  dependence  on 
God  could  only  have  been  the  result  of  a  primitive 
revelation  in  the  truest  sense  of  that  word.2 

Brahmanism.  Whatever  remnants  of  primeval 
monotheism  may  have  been  found  during  the 
Vedic  period  were  transformed  under  the  reign 
of  the  Brahmans  into  pantheism — the  doctrine 
that  "He  is,  Himself,  this  very  universe."  The 
Brahmanic  period  is  placed  from  800  to  500  B.C. 
And  during  all  this  time  it  maintained  a  strong 
hold  over  the  people,  although  it  was  itself  under- 
going considerable  changes. 

The  one  point,  however,  which  was  never  yielded 
was  the  absolute  necessity  of  sustaining  with 
liberal  offerings  an  exacting  priesthood.  These 
men  introduced  complicated  rites  which  could  be 
performed  only  by  themselves,  and  for  which  they 
must  be  richly  rewarded,  hence  the  people  were 
loaded  down  with  ceremonies  on  every  possible 

1  Hommel,  An.  Heb.  Tradition,  p.  80. 

a  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  i.f  pp.  354-355. 


Hinduism:  A  Composite  System   15 

occasion,  the  whole  course  of  a  single  service  often 
lasting  for  months  and  sometimes  for  years. 

The  literature  of  the  period  is  found  in  the  series 
of  Brahmanas,  the  oldest  of  which  may  have  been 
written  seven  or  eight  centuries  before  Christ. 
This  collection  of  books  forms  the  second  division 
of  the  Veda,  and  they  are  intended  as  guides  in  the 
performance  of  complicated  ceremonials.  Julius 
Eggeling,  the  faithful  translator  of  a  portion  of  them, 
says : ' '  For  wearisome  prolixity  of  exposition,  char- 
acterised by  dogmatic  assertion,  and  a  flimsy 
symbolism,  rather  than  by  serious  reasoning,  these 
works  are  perhaps  not  equalled  anywhere."  Many 
pages  are  devoted  to  the  washing  of  the  spoons,  and 
to  the  particular  method  of  laying  the  sacred  grass 
upon  the  altar  for  the  numerous  periodical  obla- 
tions, and  for  sacrifices  in  general.  Still,  they  repre- 
sent the  history  of  the  period  when  the  priests  had 
succeeded  in  transforming  the  primitive  worship 
of  the  powers  of  nature  into  a  highly  artificial  sys- 
tem conducted  very  largely  for  their  own  benefit. 

Caste.  During  the  Brahmanic  period  the  rules 
of  caste  were  brought  into  vigorous  operation  and 
indeed  Bhattacharya  admits  that  "caste  had  its 
origin  in  Brahmanical  legislation."1  The  priests 

1  Bhatt.,  Hindu  Castes  and  Sects,  p.  4. 


16  Hinduism 

found  their  first  authority  for  it  in  one  of  the  latest 
hymns  of  the  Rig-veda — a  hymn  which  appears 
to  have  been  inserted  in  the  collection  by  the 
Brahmans  themselves.  This  celebrated  Purusha 
hymn  contains  the  following  stanza: 

From  Viraj  was  Purusha  produced,. 

Whom  gods  and  holy  men  made  their  oblation. 

With  Purusha  as  victim  they  performed 

A  sacrifice.     When  they  divided  him, 

How  did  they  cut  him  up?     What  was  his  mouth? 

What  were  his  arms?     And  what  his  thighs  and  feet? 

The  Brahman  was  his  mouth,  the  kingly  soldier 

Was  made  his  arms,  the  husbandman  his  thighs, 

The  servile  Sudra  issued  from  his  feet. r 

Hence  the  divine  order  of  caste  is  represented  as 
follows: 

First,  the  Brahman,  who  is  supposed  to  issue 
from  the  mouth  of  the  god.  Every  priest  is  a 
Brahman  but  every  Brahman  is  not  a  priest. 
They  are  simply  a  caste  divided  into  clergy 
and  laity.  A  Brahman,  like  a  poet,  "is  born 
and  not  made,"  hence  a  man  of  foreign  birth 
can  no  more  become  a  Brahman  than  he  can 
become  a  Chinaman.  Their  sacred  books  have 
no  welcome  for  converts,  quite  the  contrary. 
The  sole  function  of  the  "converts"  on  American 

1  Williams's  trans. 


Hinduism:  A  Composite  System   17 

or  European  soil  is  the  contribution  of  money  to  a 
cause  which  constantly  demands  more.  Therefore 
when  a  Frenchwoman  can  make  her  living  in 
America  by  pretending  to  be,  not  only  a  Hindu 
but  even  a  Swami,  it  is  time  for  her  devotees  to 
investigate  the  subject  in  some  sane  way. 

The  second  in  the  order  of  caste  is  "the  kingly 
soldier"  who  issued  from  the  arms  of  Brahma. 
To  this  all  warriors  and  kings  belonged,  hence  the 
supremacy  of  the  priests  over  the  rulers  was  estab- 
lished at  an  early  day.  They  pose  as  "advisers" 
it  is  true,  but  their  mandates  were  often  accom- 
panied by  threats  of  curses  if  they  were  disobeyed. 

The  third  in  order  was  the  husbandman  who 
comes  from  the  thighs  of  the  god,  and  these,  as  well 
as  the  two  castes  above  them,  claim  to  be  "twice 
born." 

The  Sudra  or  servile  class  is  only  "once  born," 
and  they  form  the  lowest  rank;  but  even  they  are 
particular  about  maintaining  their  proper  position. 
The  man  who  dresses  hair  will  not  clean  clothes, 
neither  can  a  table  waiter  be  hired  to  carry  an 
umbrella. 

Besides  these  grand  divisions,  as  they  may  be 
called,  there  are  many  sub-castes  which  are  too 
numerous  to  specify.  These  minor  divisions  have 
obtained  in  many  ways.  They  may  have  origin- 


i8  Hinduism 

ated  in  mixed  marriages ;  for  instance,  a  Brahman 
could  have  four  wives,  and  could  marry  a  woman 
belonging  to  any  one  of  the  three  lower  castes 
and  her  children  would  be  the  beginning  of  another 
class  of  beings. 

We  have  also  an  almost  endless  number  of 
what  may  be  called  trade-castes,  resulting  chiefly 
from  associations  of  men  engaged  in  the  same 
occupation ;  these  are  being  constantly  created  and 
in  them  the  exclusiveness  and  restrictions  in  regard 
to  social  intercourse  and  intermarriage  are  en- 
forced more  strictly  than  even  in  the  original 
pure  castes  of  early  times.  Many  of  these  seem 
to  resemble  trade  unions  and  have  numerous  sub- 
castes  under  them.  For  instance  in  the  North- 
West,  the  writer  caste  has  twelve  subdivisions, 
and  none  of  them  can  intermarry  except  with  the 
highest  of  the  twelve  divisions,  and  similarly  the 
carpenter  caste  has  seven  sub-castes  none  of  whom 
can  eat  together. 

There  is  even  a  thief  caste  and  a  murder  caste. 
When  a  death  occurs  no  man  should  be  carried 
to  the  burning-ground  except  by  his  own  caste-fel- 
lows. The  arbitrary  rules  have  multiplied  almost 
endlessly  among  the  many  divisions,  still  they  af- 
fect a  man  chiefly  in  the  four  matters  of  marriage, 
food,  professional  occupation,  and  funeral  rites. 


Hinduism :  A  Composite  System   19 

The  gross  tyranny  of  the  Brahmans  is  admitted 
even  by  the  native  scholars.  Lala  Baijnath,  the 
ex-Chief  Justice  of  Indore,  in  his  address  before 
the  International  Congress  of  Orientalists,  made  the 
following  assertion  : 

Next  to  his  slavish  adherence  to  astrology  which  form 
such  a  prominent  feature  in  the  Hindu's  daily  life,  is 
his  desire  to  serve  the  Brahmans.  Everything  good 
must  be  given  to  a  Brahman — fresh  fruit  for  the  first 
time  in  season,  new  corn,  milk  of  a  cow  which  has 
calved  for  the  first  time,  and  many  other  things  are 
given  to  the  Brahmans  in  every  Hindu  household  be- 
fore any  one  of  the  family  ventures  to  touch  them.  * 

Jogendra  Nath  Bhattacharya,  President  of  the 
College  of  Pandits  and  author  of  Commentaries 
on  Hindu  Law,  says : 

The  more  orthodox  Sudras  carry  their  veneration  for 
the  priestly  class  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  will  not 
cross  the  shadow  of  a  Brahman,  and  it  is  not  unusual 
for  them  to  be  under  a  vow  not  to  eat  of  any  food  in 
the  morning  before  drinking  of  the  water  in  which 
the  toe  of  a  Brahman  has  been  dipped ....  When 
a  Sudra  writes  a  letter  to  a  Brahman,  it  must  begin 
by  declaring  that  the  writer  makes  a  hundred  million 
obeisances  at  the  lotus  feet  of  the  addressee.2 

All  of  the  higher  classes  agree  in  abstaining  from 
animal  food,  the  eating  of  which,  although  formerly 

1  Baijnath,  Trans.  Ninth  International  Congress  of  Orientalists, 
vol.  i.,  p.  142.  2  Bhatt.,  Hindu  Castes  and  Sects,  pp.  20-21. 


20  Hinduism 

permitted  on  certain  occasions,  is  now  regarded  as 
an  offence  which  is  almost  a  crime.  Even  to  sit 
in  the  presence  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  who  is  eating 
beef  is  not  only  sinful,  but  they  claim  it  produces 
feelings  of  disgust  far  greater  than  those  which  an 
Englishman  or  an  American  would  feel  in  sitting 
beside  a  Chinaman  who  was  enjoying  a  feast  of 
boiled  rats! 

And  yet,  when  Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows,  late 
President  of  Oberlin  College,  invited  Vivekananda 
to  lunch  in  Chicago  a  few  years  ago,  the  Hindu 
astonished  his  host  by  ordering  roast  beef! 

Every  orthodox  Hindu  is  fully  persuaded  that 
water  if  taken  from  the  filthiest  stream,  provided 
it  is  a  sacred  river,  and  used  for  drinking  purposes, 
or  applied  to  his  body,  will  purify  his  soul.  Con- 
sequently, he  will  eagerly  drink  it,  whereas  the 
purest  water  is  supposed  to  cause  external  and 
internal  taint,  if  it  should  be  accepted  from  a 
person  of  lower  caste.  Not  only  this  but  it  pollutes 
the  whole  of  a  well  belonging  to  those  of  higher 
caste,  if  one  of  the  lower  caste  presumes  to  drink 
water  which  has  come  from  this  sacred  fountain. 

Transmigration  of  Souls.  This  doctrine,  which 
apparently  originated  in  Egypt,  took  early  root  in 
Indian  soil,  and  has  long  been  a  cardinal  doctrine 


Hinduism:  A  Composite  System  21 

of  both  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism.  It  is  en- 
thusiastically taught  in  the  first  Upanishad  of  the 
series,1  is  carried  through  several  of  them,  and 
afterward  more  fully  developed  in  the  Code  of 
Manu. 

The  theory  provides  an  easy  explanation  of  all 
the  inequalities  of  position,  fortune,  or  even  tal- 
ent, as  the  rich,  the  noble,  or  the  mentally 
brilliant  are  supposed  to  be  enjoying  the  benefits 
of  merit  accumulated  in  former  lives,  while  the 
poor  and  the  diseased  are  suffering  the  penalties 
of  sins  committed  in  former  bodies.  It  is  said  that 
a  thievish  Brahman  was  once  driven  out  of  a  man's 
orchard  and  severely  beaten,  whereupon  the  victim 
philosophically  remarked  to  a  friend:  "It  is  all 
right — in  a  former  birth,  this  man  was  my  donkey, 
and  I  was  very  cruel  to  him.  He  has  now  repaid 
me  for  many  a  blow!"  The  fact  that  very  few 
claim  to  remember  any  former  birth  seems  to 
furnish  little  or  no  objection  to  the  theory,  as  it  is 
supposed  that  memory  is  lost  at  each  and  every 
death. 

The  faith  of  millions  of  people  in  India,  for 
nearly  two  thousand  years,  has  been  built  largely 

1  The  Upanishads  are  the  third  grand  division  of  the  Vedas, 
and  the  earliest  of  these  philosophical  works  may  have  been 
written  as  early  as  600  B.C. 


22  Hinduism 

upon  the  dogma  that  each  being  must  pass  through 
8,400,000  lives,  which  is  the  natural  lot  of  all  souls. 
These  forms  through  which  all  must  pass  are 
supposed  to  consist  of  2,300,000  quadrupeds, 
900,000  aquatic  animals,  1,000,000  feathered 
animals,  1,100,000  creeping  animals,  1,700,000 
immovable  forms  such  as  trees  and  stones,  i  ,400- 
ooo  human  beings,  and  although  there  is  no  gradual 
rise  in  position  it  is  only  in  this  last  form  that  final 
emancipation  may  be  gained. 

It  is  on  account  of  this  peculiar  faith  that  every 
animal  and  insect  is  sacred  in  India,  as  even  a  fly 
or  a  flea  might  contain  the  soul  of  a  priest  or  of  a 
near  relative.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  Hindu 
visitors  to  the  World's  Congresses  in  Chicago,  in 
1893,  became  interested  in  the  hospital  idea  and 
went  home  and  built  a  hospital — not  for  the  suffer- 
ing women  and  children,  but  for  the  feeding  and 
propagation  of  loathsome  insects ! 

It  is  noticeable  throughout  the  codes  that  sins 
against  caste  are  more  severely  punished  in  future 
births  than  are  offences  against  morality,  but 
sometimes  there  is  a  sort  of  poetic  justice  in  the 
penalties.  For  instance  a  man  who  steals  grain 
will  be  born  a  mouse;  if  he  has  stolen  perfumery, 
he  becomes  a  muskrat;  if  he  has  purloined  water 
he  will  be  reborn  as  a  water-fowl;  if  he  has  taken 


Hinduism :  A  Composite  System  23 

honey,  in  the  next  birth  he  will  be  a  gadfly ;  he 
who  has  stolen  meat  becomes  a  vulture,  one  who 
has  robbed  his  neighbour  of  oil,  will  next  make  his 
appearance  as  a  cockroach,  while  one  who  has 
stolen  linen  becomes  a  frog ! 

But  these  punishments  are  mild  when  compared 
to  the  penalty  for  sins  against  caste.  For  in- 
stance if  a  Brahman  neglects  his  own  appointed 
caste,  he  will  be  reborn  as  a  vomit-eating  demon, 
feeding  also  upon  dead  bodies  and  other  putrid 
flesh. 

In  all  the  statutes  which  govern  social  life,  the 
immense  superiority  of  the  priestly  class  is  the 
great  central  point  of  civil  as  well  as  ceremonial  law. 

A  Brahman,  whether  learned  or  unlearned,  is  a 
mighty  divinity,  whether  consecrated,  or  unconse- 
crated. 

Let  not  a  king  although  fallen  into  the  greatest  dis- 
tress provoke  Brahmans  to  anger  (by  taking  revenue 
from  them),  for  they,  if  once  enraged,  could  instantly 
(by  pronouncing  curses)  destroy  him  with  his  whole 
retinue.1 

The  punishment  for  insulting  a  Brahman  is 
something  terrible: 

With  whatever  member  a  low-born  man  may  injure 
a  superior,  that  very  member  must  be  mutilated.  .  .  . 

1  Manu,  ix.,  13-14,  317. 


24  Hinduism 

A  once-born  man  insulting  twice-born  men  with 
abusive  language  must  have  his  tongue  cut  out. 
Should  he  mention  their  name  and  caste  with  insult- 
ing expressions,  a  red-hot  iron  three  inches  long  is 
thrust  into  his  mouth/'1 

We  can  hardly  imagine  it  possible  for  any  be- 
ings in  human  form  to  invent  such  horrible  pun- 
ishments, to  be  inflicted  even  upon  the  vilest 
criminal,  neither  could  a  law  student  believe  that 
such  enactments  had  ever  been  made  if  they  were 
not  a  part  of  the  official  decrees  in  the  Code  of 
Manu. 

This  textbook  was  probably  at  first  a  small 
collection  of  local  enactments  which  were  handed 
down  orally,  perhaps,  for  generations,  but  additions 
were  constantly  made  to  it,  until  it  became  a 
voluminous  portion  of  their  sacred  literature,  and 
was  then  as  now  the  basis  of  Hindu  jurisprudence. 
It  has  secured  for  itself  a  degree  of  reverence  second 
only  to  that  accorded  to  the  Veda.  About  twenty 
volumes  of  this  enormous  work  are  still  in  existence 
and  many  of  its  provisions  are  judicious  and 
beneficial.  The  Code  is,  however,  a  strange  com- 
bination of  civil  and  religious  law.  Besides  the 
infliction  of  terrible  penalties  at  the  hands  of  the 
civil  authorities,  the  criminal  was  often  assured  of 

1  Manu,  viii.,  276-279. 


Hinduism :  A  Composite  System   25 

still  more  awful  punishments  in  the  various  forms 
through  which  his  soul  must  pass  after  leaving  his 
body. 

Apparently  believing  that  the  subject  of  hell  is 
one  in  which  many  people  must  be  interested,  the 
Hindu  philosophers  have  elaborated  it  extensively. 
They  have  provided  extensive  accommodations  for 
sinners  of  all  classes  and  degrees  in  twenty-one 
hells  of  various  descriptions,  each  of  which  is 
provided  with  unpronounceable  names  in  addition 
to  their  other  horrors.  The  word-pictures  of  these 
abodes  of  torture  as  given  in  standard  Sanskrit 
works  are  appalling  beyond  description,  but  there 
is  no  crime  so  fiendish  that  it  does  not  become  in- 
nocent, provided  only  the  culprit  be  a  priest  who 
retains  his  caste,  and  remembers  a  sacred  text. 
Hence  it  is  said  in  Manu:  "A  Brahman  by  retain- 
ing the  Rig-veda  in  his  memory,  incurs  no  guilt, 
though  he  should  destroy  the  inhabitants  of  the 
three  worlds,  and  even  eat  food  from  the  foulest 
hands!111 

1  Manu,  book  ii.,  26. 


CHAPTER  II 
BUDDHISM:  A  PROTEST  AGAINST  BRAHMANISM 

Long  Series  of  Buddhas.  Birth  of  Gautama.  Great  Renunciation. 
System  of  Philosophy.  Metempsychosis.  Jataka  Book. 
Buddha's  Hell.  Atheism  and  Later  Polytheism.  Death 
of  Buddha.  Number  of  Adherents.  Expulsion  from  India. 

TT  is  claimed  the  Gautama  was  the  last  of  a  long 
*  succession  of  Buddhas  who  appear  at  great 
intervals  in  the  world's  history  in  a  series  which 
has  neither  beginning  nor  end.  This  endless  chain, 
according  to  their  official  statements,  reaches 
back  into  the  past  for  so  many  kalpas1  of  ages  that 
the  eons  of  geologic  time  are  lost  in  comparison. 
Gautama,  himself,  enumerates  only  eighty-one 
predecessors  beginning  with  Dipankara,  but  in  one 
of  their  standard  works  it  is  said:  " There  are 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  kotis 2  of  Buddhas, 

1  According  to  some  authorities,  a  kalpa  is  definitely  stated 
as  two  billions  one  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  years.  While 
others  express  its  duration  as  follows:  "Let  it  be  supposed  that 
a  solid  rock  sixteen  miles  high,  and  the  same  in  length,  and 
breadth,  were  lightly  rubbed,  once  in  a  hundred  years,  with  a 
piece  of  the  finest  cloth,  and  by  this  slight  friction  reduced  to  the 
size  of  a  mango  seed — that  would  give  you  no  idea  of  the  length 
of  a  Buddhist  kalpa"  (Williams,  B.,  p.  120). 

3  A  koti  is  explained  as  being  ten  millions. 
26 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     27 

endless  like  the  sands  of  the  Ganges — the  incom- 
parable lords!"1  When  we  consider  that  each 
of  these  must  pass  through  multitudes  of  births, 
we  cannot  wonder  that  plenty  of  time  is 
required. 

The  Birth  of  Gautama.  Gautama,  or  Gotama, 
was  the  name  given  him  by  the  family.  Buddha 
was  not  a  proper  name,  but  simply  an  epithet 
signifying  "the  perfectly  enlightened  one,"  and 
besides  this  the  founder  of  the  system  has  seven- 
teen other  titles  all  of  which  are  significant  of  dif- 
ferent qualifications,  or  positions.  Such  a  mass  of 
myth  surrounds  his  birth  and  early  life,  so  many 
dates  are  assigned  to  him,  that  for  these  and  other 
reasons,  some  critical  scholars  are  disposed  to 
doubt  the  fact  of  his  existence  as  a  real  being. 
The  native  teacher  Bhagwanlal  R.  Badshah  not 
only  denies  the  existence  of  Gautama,  but  asserts 
that  Sakyasink,  the  son  of  Suddhodana  was  the 
great  reformer  who  founded  Buddhism.  He  says 
of  the  man  whom  he  claims  was  the  real  founder: 
"He  did  not  want  to  call  himself  Buddha,  but  he 
wanted  to  give  the  name  of  Buddhism  to  the  new 
religion  he  set  up.  As  he  delivered  the  people  from 

1  Sukhavati-vyhua,  4,  6.     See  also  Lalita-Vistara,  chap,  i., 
p.  6. 


28  Hinduism 

the  oppression  of  the  Brahmans  the  people  called 
him  an  incarnation  of  God. " l 

The  preponderance  of  evidence,  however,  strongly 
indicates  that  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.  Gautama  Buddha  was  born,  about  a 
hundred  miles  from  Benares.  He  was  the  son  of  Sud- 
dhodana,  who  was  a  landowner  of  the  tribe  Sakyas, 
and  although  certainly  not  a  king,  he  may  have 
been  a  chief  of  his  tribe.  His  mother's  name  was 
Maya-devi  and  she  was  the  wife  of  Suddhodana. 

The  Great  Renunciation.  The  story  of  the  four 
visions  which  it  is  claimed  led  to  his  abandonment 
of  the  ordinary  course  of  life  appears  to  belong  to 
the  mythical  traditions  concerning  Buddha.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Lalita-Vistara,  however,  the  story, 
briefly,  is  about  as  follows: 

One  day  while  walking  in  the  pleasure  grounds, 
he  saw  a  man  who  was  withered  and  wasted  by 
age.  He  enquired  as  to  the  cause,  and  was  told 
that  this  was  the  final  condition  of  all  who  were 
not  saved  from  it  by  an  early  death.  Then  he 
returned  home  greatly  disturbed  in  mind. 

Going  again  to  the  park,  he  saw  a  sick  man,  and 
learned  that  disease  too  was  the  common  lot. 

1  Badshah,  Trans.  Ninth  Inter.  Cong,  of  Orientalists,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  139. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     29 

Again  he  saw  a  dead  man,  and  learned  that  this 
also  was  a  portion  of  the  heritage  of  humanity. 

Still  later  he  saw  a  mendicant  friar  and  asked 
what  manner  of  man  this  might  be,  who  appeared 
so  strangely?  On  being  told  of  the  great  advan- 
tages this  man  was  gaining  by  renouncing  the  world, 
he  went  a  way  in  deep  thought. 

On  returning  home  he  reclined  on  a  couch  and 
the  women  of  his  household  brought  their  musical 
instruments  and  danced  and  sang  until  he  fell 
asleep.  Then  they  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep 
also.  When  he  awoke  they  were  still  asleep,  and 
the  Lalita-Vistara  gives  the  following  description 
of  the  vision  upon  which  he  looked: 

He,  the  Bodhisattva  (or  future  Buddha)  cast  his  eyes 
upon  the  ladies;  he  looked  at  them  with  attention; 
(he  found)  spme  of  them  had  their  dresses  in  disorder  ; 
some  of  them  had  their  tresses  dishevelled;  some  of 
them  had  their  ornaments  scattered  about ;  some  had 
their  tiaras  knocked  off;  some  had  their  chins  resting 
on  their  shoulders,  some  had  their  mouths  distorted; 
some  had  their  eyes  staring;  some  had  saliva  flowing 
down  from  their  mouths;  some  were  groaning;  some 
were  laughing ;  some  were  talking  wildly ;  some  were 
grinding  their  teeth ;  some  had  their  faces  discoloured ; 
some  had  their  arms  distended ;  some  had  their  faces 
distorted ;  some  had  their  heads  uncovered ;  some  had 
their  faces  twisted  on  one  side.  .  .  .  Beholding  this 
repulsive  scene  of  the  ladies  lying  on  the  ground, 


30  Hinduism 

the  Bodhisattva  realised  in  his  mind  the  idea  of  the 
cremation  ground.  Beholding  these,  that  lord  of  be- 
ings, drawing  a  merciful  sigh,  thus  spoke  in  distress: 
"Alas!  How  can  I  associate  with  the  beings  here 
assembled?  I  must  retire  to  asceticism."1 

He  is  said  to  have  arrived  at  supreme  knowledge 
after  long  meditation  and  fasting  under  the  Bodhi 
tree,  or  "Tree  of  wisdom/'  which  is  familiarly 
called  the  Bo-tree.  This  tree  is,  therefore,  greatly 
reverenced  by  all  Buddhists,  and  the  one  under 
which  he  is  supposed  to  have  received  enlighten- 
ment is  continually  preserved  by  replanting  new 
trees  in  the  decayed  trunk  of  the  old  one. 

System  of  Philosophy.  Four  great  truths  are 
said  to  have  been  revealed  to  Buddha  as  the  first 
result  of  his  long  period  of  meditation.  These 
together  make  what  is  called  the  "  Law,  or  Doctrine 
of  the  Wheel."  They  are: 

(1)  Suffering  exists  wherever  there  is  life. 

(2)  Suffering  is  caused  by  desire. 

(3)  Release  from   suffering  depends  upon  the 
suppression  of  desire  and  the  extinction  of  being 
(Nirvana). 

'  Lalita-Vistara,  trans,  by  Rajendralala  Mitra,  LL.D.,  C.I.E., 
chap.  xv.f  p.  275.  A  modern  English  poet  has  violated  the  Bud- 
dhistic account  by  painting  this  revolting  scene  in  very  different 
colours.  The  Buddha-karita,  however,  and  other  standard  works 
give  vivid  descriptions  of  the  scene  which  is  here  so  lightly  touched. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     31 

(4)  Nirvana  can  only  be  obtained  by  following 
the  paths  pointed  out  by  Buddha.  These  paths 
are  eight  in  number,  four  of  them — right  vision, 
right  thoughts,  right  words,  right  actions — being 
applicable  to  all  men,  the  other  four  being  reserved 
for  monks  only. 

This  system  was  a  protest  against  the  pantheism 
of  Brahmanism  which  makes  God  everything  and 
everything  God,  as  primitive  and  genuine  Buddhism 
was  not  a  religion  at  all,  but  merely  a  philosophy, 
which  recognised  no  God,  no  prayer,  and  no  priest. 
It  was  opposed  to  all  ecclesiastical  organisation, 
being  simply  a  brotherhood  of  men  who  had  re- 
nounced their  families,  and  claimed  to  renounce 
all  desire  for  life — men  who  had  pledged  themselves 
to  devote  their  time  to  the  recitation  of  the  law 
and  "the  accumulation  of  merit"  for  the  sake  of 
their  own  deliverance  from  the  hopeless  chain  of 
transmigration  which  was  taught  by  the  Brahmans. 
The  warfare  against  marriage  and  family  life 
excited  the  opposition  of  the  people,  and  Buddha 
himself  very  soon  saw  that  the  practical  working 
of  his  theories  must  also  bring  destitution,  as  the 
monks  were  forbidden  to  work,  but  must  obtain 
their  living  by  carrying  from  door  to  door  a  bowl 
in  which  they  received  scraps  of  food.  Lay- 
brothers  and  lay-sisters  were  therefore  a  necessity ; 


32  Hinduism 

somebody  must  work  for  the  support  of  the  monks. 
Married  householders  were  made  members  of  the 
outer  circle,  and  the  formula  for  their  admission 
into  the  ranks  was  very  simple,  being  merely  a 
repetition  of  the  following  words: 

I  go  for  refuge  to  the  Buddha. 
I  go  for  refuge  to  the  law. 
I  go  for  refuge  to  the  Order.  * 

It  was  also  understood  that  they  should  abstain 
from  five  gross  offences,  but  the  principal  test  of 
their  loyalty  was  their  willingness  to  serve  the 
monks. 

Buddhism  was  a  protest  against  Brahmanism 
concerning  the  tyranny  of  caste,  because  it 
taught  that  all  men  were  equal;  all  men  too  must 
suffer  in  their  own  persons-,  either  in  this  or  in 
future  lives,  the  consequences  of  their  own  acts. 
And  as  all  actions,  whether  good  or  bad,  lead  to 
repeated  future  existences,  the  great  end  and 
object  of  every  man  must  be  to  attain  non- 
existence  (Nirvana)  by  meditation  and  the  sup- 
pression of  all  action. 

It  was  also  a  protest  against  Brahmanism  in 
denying  the  existence  of  the  soul.  The  second 
discourse  which  Buddha  ever  delivered  was  at 

1  Maha-vagga,  i,,  7,  10. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism      33 

Benares  on  the  Non-Existence  of  the  Soul.  The 
belief  in  self  or  soul  was  accounted  so  distinctly  a 
heresy  that  two  well-known  words  in  Pali  termin- 
ology were  coined  to  stigmatise  it.  And  yet,  in 
defiance  of  these  facts,  Dharmapala  stood  up  be- 
fore an  audience  in  Chicago  and  said:  "I  will  now 
read  to  you  some  Buddhistic  ideas  in  Christian 
language. "  And  then  he  proceeded  to  read  the 
parable  found  in  Luke  xii.,  emphasising  verse  20: 
"Thou  fool,  this  night  shall  thy  soul  be  required 
of  thee. "  This  is  only  one  example  of  their  mis- 
representations of  their  own  books  and  creeds  on 
foreign  soil. 

Metempsychosis.  As  Buddhism  officially  and 
emphatically  denied  the  existence  of  the  soul,  it 
could  not  in  any  way  recognise  the  transmigration 
of  the  soul.  Gautama  taught,  however,  a  system 
of  metempsychosis  wherein  the  character  was 
transferred  from  one  being  to  another.  Although 
he  admitted  the  existence  of  no  God,  he  was 
compelled  to  recognise  an  all-ruling  power  from 
which  there  was  no  escape  and  he  called  this  power 
karma  or  karman — action.  The  substance  of  this 
teaching  is  that  the  result  of  what  a  man  does  is 
concentrated  in  a  new  sentient  being — new  in  its 
constituent  parts  or  powers,  but  the  same  in  its 


34  Hinduism 

essence,  its  being,  or  doing — its  karma!  The 
theory  is  that  as  soon  as  a  man,  animal,  or  angel 
dies,  a  new  being  is  produced  in  a  more  or  less 
painful  state  of  existence,  according  to  the  char- 
acter or  actions  of  the  creature  that  died.  Re- 
birth as  an  animal  clearly  forms  part  of  the  oldest 
Buddhistic  belief  and  later  works  rightly  take  it 
for  granted.  In  the  Dhamma-pada,  which  is  one 
of  the  oldest  Buddhistic  works  and  claims  to  re- 
produce the  sayings  of  Buddha,  he  is  represented 
as  declaring: 

Through  countless  births  have  I  wandered,  seeking 
but  not  discovering  the  maker  of  this,  my  mortal 
dwelling-place,  and  still  again  and  again  have  birth 
and  life,  and  pain,  returned. 

But  now,  at  length,  thou  art  discovered,  thou 
builder  of  this  house.  No  longer  shalt  thou  rear  a 
house  for  me.  Rafters  and  beams  are  shattered,  and 
with  the  destruction  of  desire,  deliverance  from  a  re- 
peated life  is  gained  at  last.1 

The  Jataka  Book.  The  Buddhist  scriptures  are 
spoken  of  as  consisting  of  nine  divisions,  and  of 
these,  this  collection  forms  the  seventh.  Although 
it  is  briefly  called  the  Jataka  Book,  its  full  title 
is,  "The  Commentary  on  the  Jatakas, "  as  it  not 
only  contains  the  stories  of  previous  births,  but 
also  explanations,  and  a  description  of  the  cir- 

1  Dhamma-pada,  153-154. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     35 

cumstances  under  which  they  were  told.  The 
date  of  this  work,  like  the  others,  is  undecided, 
but  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids,  the  translator,  says: 
"The  rise  of  our  Jataka  Book  was  due  to  the  re- 
ligious faith  of  the  Indian  Buddhists  of  the  third 
or  fourth  centuries  before  Christ,"  the  statements 
therein  contained  having  been  handed  down  orally 
from  time  to  time  until  they  were  committed  to 
writing. 

In  several  other  standard  works  of  the  sect,  the 
karma  of  Buddha  is  represented  as  having  belonged, 
and  apparently  in  succession,  to  both  men  and 
animals.  He  is  represented  as  not  only  remember- 
ing many  of  his  early  experiences,  but  also  of 
repeating  his  adventures  in  former  births  for  the 
instruction  and  entertainment  of  his  followers,  and 
these  are  the  stories,  of  which  he  is  always  the 
hero,  which  are  gathered  in  this  great  collection. 

It  is  said  there  are  five  hundred  and  fifty  differ- 
ent births,  concerning  which  tales  have  come  down 
to  us,  and  in  some  "of  the  Buddhist  temples  relics 
of  Gautama  are  exhibited,  such  as  hair,  feathers, 
and  other  fragments  of  animals  whose  forms  he 
formerly  wore. 

According  to  the  Jataka  and  other  standard 
works,  he  was  born  once  each  as  a  fairy,  a  hare,  a 
frog,  a  water  fowl,  a  carpenter,  a  devil  dancer,  a 


36  Hinduism 

silversmith,  a  gambler,  a  curer  of  snake  bites,  and 
a  dog.  Twice  he  lived  as  a  pig,  twice  as  a  thief, 
twice  as  a  rat,  and  he  also  repeatedly  led  the  lives 
of  a  jackal,  a  fish,  a  woodpecker,  and  a  crow. 
Forty- three  times  he  was  a  tree-god,  and  twenty- 
four  he  was  a  teacher,  in  twenty-four  also  he  was  a 
courtier,  and  he  led  twenty  lives  as  a  king's  son. 
In  three  lives  he  was  an  outcast,  and  in  three  a 
potter.  Four  times  each  he  was  born  as  a  peacock, 
a  serpent,  and  the  god  Brahma;  in  four  lives  also 
he  was  a  horse,  and  afterwards  lived  in  four 
different  bulls.  In  twenty-three  lives  he  was  a 
nobleman,  and  in  twenty-two  a  learned  man. 
Five  times  each  he  was  born  as  an  eagle,  and  as  a 
slave.  Six  times  he  was  an  elephant,  and  six  times 
a  snipe.  He  lived  eight  lives  as  a  wild  duck,  and 
ten  as  a  lion.  In  eleven  births  he  was  a  deer,  and 
in  twelve  a  man  of  property.  Thirteen  of  his  lives 
were  devoted  to  commerce,  and  in  eighteen  forms 
of  existence  he  was  a  monkey.  "The  noteworthy 
point,"  says  Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams,  "about 
the  repeated  births  of  Buddha,  is  that  there  was 
no  Darwinian  rise  from  lower  to  higher  forms,  but 
a  mere  jumble  of  metamorphoses."1 

It  is  true  that  he  is  represented  as  being  born 
in  the  Tusita  heavens  the  last  time  before  he  was 

1  Williams,  B.,  p.  iii. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     37 

born  as  Gautama,  but,  says  Oldenburg,  "This  in 
no  way  implies  that  a  superhuman  existence  is 
claimed  for  him.  One  who  is  a  god  in  one  exist- 
ence may,  in  the  next,  be  born  as  an  animal,  or  he 
may  be  born  in  hell."1 

If  he  be  born  in  hell,  he  is  not  thereby  debarred 
from  seeking  salvation;  and  if  he  be  born  in  heaven 
as  a  god,  he  must  sometime  leave  his  happy  estate, 
and  seek  for  the  condition  of  the  perfect  man  who  has 
attained  Nirvana,  and  is  soon  to  achieve  the  only 
consummation  for  which  it  is  worth  while  to  live — • 
extinction  of  personal  existence  in  Pari-nirvana.2 

Although  the  Bodisat  (or  future  Buddha) 
passed  many  lives  in  the  humble  forms  of  the 
frog,  snipe,  rat,  serpents,  monkeys,  and  others — 
although  he  repeatedly  lived  as  thieves,  outcasts, 
and  gamblers,  yet  he  escaped  the  greatest  humilia- 
tion to  which  he  could  have  been  subjected  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people  of  India  in  that  he  was  never 
born  as  a  woman! 

Buddha's  Hell.  The  descriptions  of  hell  are 
very  graphic  and  the  doctrine  of  karma  contains 
no  forgiveness.  "Not  in  the  heavens,"  says  the 
Dhamma-pada,  "not  in  the  midst  of  the  sea  .  .  . 
wilt  thou  find  a  place  where  thou  canst  escape  the 

1  Oldenburg,  B.,  p.  324.  a  Williams,  B.,  p.  122. 


38  Hinduism 

force  of  thy  evil  action."1  A  passage  in  the 
Deva-duta-sutta  represents  Yama  as  pronouncing 
the  doom  of  a  wicked  man : 

These,  thy  evil  deeds,  are  not  the  work  of  others, 
thou  alone  hast  done  them  all;  thou  alone  must  bear 
the  fruit.  And  then  the  warders  of  hell  drag  him  to 
a  place  of  torment,  rivet  him  to  red-hot  iron,  plunge 
him  into  glowing  seas  of  blood,  torture  him  on  heaps 
of  burning  coals ;  and  he  dies  not,  until  the  last  residue 
of  his  guilt  has  been  expiated.2 

Although  the  punishment  of  hell  is  not  eternal, 
its  shortest  duration  is  five  hundred  of  the  years 
of  hell,  each  day  of  which  equals  fifty  years  of 
earth.  Buddha's  own  description  of  the  future 
punishment  of  a  backbiter  is  found  in  the  Maha- 
vagga ;  a  portion  of  it  is  as  follows : 

To  the  place  where  one  is  struck  with  iron  rods,  to 
the  iron  stake  with  sharp  edges  he  goes ;  then  there  is 
for  him  food  as  appropriate,  resembling  a  red-hot  ball 
of  iron.  .  .  .  Then  he  who  commits  sin  is  surely 
boiled  in  a  mixture  of  matter  and  blood;  whatever 
quarter  he  inhabits,  he  becomes  rotten  there  from 
coming  in  contact  with  matter  and  blood.  .  .  . 
There  black-mottled  ravens  eat  them  who  are  weeping, 
and  dogs,  jackals,  great  vultures,  falcons,  and  crows 
tear  them.3 

1  Dhamma-pada,  127. 
3  Deva-duta-sutta,  trans,  by  Oldenburg. 

3  Maha-vagga  Kokaliya   sutta,  ii.,    19.      The  Buddha-karita 
gives,  if  possible,  a  more  terrible  description  than  this,  and  it  is 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     39 

Atheism  and  Later  Polytheism.  "Buddhism  has 
no  Creator,  no  creation,  no  original  germ  of  all 
things,  no  soul  of  the  world,  no  personal,  no  imper- 
sonal, no  supermundane,  no  antemundane  prin- 
cipal."1 

The  idea  of  a  Creator  is  not  only  denied,  but 
Buddha  claimed  to  find  no  being  in  the  whole 
universe  who  was  his  own  equal. 

An  ascetic  by  the  name  of  Upasaka  came  to  him 
to  enquire  of  whom  he  had  learned  his  philosophy, 
whereupon  Buddha  replied  as  follows:  "I  have 
no  teacher;  there  is  no  one  who  resembles  me. 
In  the  world  of  gods  I  have  no  equal.  I  am  the 
most  noble  being  in  the  world,  the  irrefutable 
teacher,  the  sole,  all-pervading  Buddha." 

But  he  did  acknowledge  the  various  gods  of  the 
Hindu  pantheon,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that 
he  claimed  to  have  been  born  as  a  tree-god  forty- 
three  times. 

These  gods  or  spirits  were  very  much  in  the  order  of 
precedence  and  were  all  (except  Mara,  the  Evil  One) 
supposed  to  be  passably  good  Buddhists.  They  were 
not  feared  but  patronised  as  a  sort  of  fairies,  usually 
beneficent,  though  always  more  or  less  foolish  and 

there  described  as  a  part  of  the  enlightenment  which  Buddha 
attained  under  the  Bo-tree,  and  this  was  "the  true  knowledge" 
which  was  attained  in  the  second  watch.  See  Buddha-karita, 
bk.  xiv.,  10,  6.  *  Williams,  B.,  p.  117. 


40  Hinduism 

ignorant ....  No  exception  was  made  in  the  case 
of  Brahma.  He  also  was  evanescent,  was  bound  by 
the  chain  of  existence,  the  result  of  ignorance,  and 
could  only  find  salvation  by  walking  along  the  eight- 
fold path.  .  .  .  But  even  if  the  idea  of  Brahma 
were  the  same  as  the  idea  of  a  god,  union  with  him 
would  mean  merely  a  temporary  life  as  an  angel  in 
the  Brahma  heavens. l 

The  radical  atheism  of  Buddha  resulted  in  extrav- 
agant polytheism  among  his  followers.  He  taught 
that  man  has  no  Father  to  whom  he  can  appeal  for 
sympathy  and  aid,  but  the  higher  sentiments  of 
the  human  heart  naturally  reach  upward,  seeking 
some  object  of  veneration,  and  no  one  can  set  his 
affections  upon  a  system  of  philosophy.  Hence 
there  are  now  multitudes  of  gods  in  the  Buddhist 
pantheon,  and  many  of  them  are  mentioned  even  as 
early  as  the  Dhamma-pada. 

The  Buddhism  of  the  North  became  connected 
with  Shaivism,  magic,  and  even  with  Tantrism' or 
Shaktism  with  all  its  loathsome  accompaniments. 
Without  apparently  making  war  upon  existing 
faiths,  it  still  claims  that  a  man  may  be  a  good 
Buddhist  and  at  the  same  time  anything  else 
he  pleases.  Not  only  this,  but  it  absorbs 
other  creeds  or  assimilates  some  of  their  ideas. 
For  instance  in  Japan  it  has  embraced  Shintoism, 

1  Sa.  Bks.  of  the  East,  vol.  xi.,  pp.  163-4. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     41 

while  in  Ceylon  and  Burma  it  has  included  ser- 
pent worship,  and  the  adoration  of  demons,  with 
all  of  which,  as  well  as  with  the  recognition  of  many 
a  Hindu  god,  it  is  still  connected.  Although  at 
first  opposed  to  all  organisation  except  as  a  roving 
band  of  monks,  it  now  has  an  organisation  similar 
to  that  of  the  Roman  Church  with  the  Grand  Lama 
reigning  as  Pope.  Idol  worship  also  soon  came 
into  vogue  and  during  the  reign  of  this  cult  in 
India,  the  monks  vied  with  each  other  in  the 
ingenuity  with  which  they  constructed  their  idols. 
They  were  made  to  give  out  light,  or  flash  glances 
from  their  crystal  eyes,  and  were  also  furnished 
with  machinery  that  would  enable  them  to  nod, 
or  reach  out  a  hand  to  bless  a  worshipper  who  was 
liberal  with  his  offerings. 

It  is  not  strange  that  atheism  should  lead  to 
polytheism  as  the  other  extreme,  and  that  idols 
are  now  more  abundant  in  Buddhist  countries  than 
among  any  other  idolatrous  people.  Even  in 
Chicago,  at  what  is  called  their  "devotion  meet- 
ings,'* after  a  very  flowery  and  very  misleading 
address,  incense  is  burned  before  the  image  of 
Buddha,  and  men  and  women  go  through  with  the 
various  forms  of  obeisance  before  the  idol. 

The  Death  of  Buddha.     The  official  and  only  reli- 


42  Hinduism 

able  story  of  the  death  of  Gautama  is  found  in  the 
Maha-parinibbana  Suttana,  or  Book  of  the  Great 
Decease,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  written 
by  some  of  his  devoted  followers  at  a  time  when 
reliable  traditions  concerning  the  matter  were 
still  in  circulation  among  the  people.  Very  briefly, 
the  story  is  as  follows: 

At  Pava  the  Blessed  One  stayed  at  the  mango  grove 
of  Kunda  [pronounced  Chunda]  the  coppersmith. 
Now  at  the  end  of  the  night  Kunda  made  ready  in  his 
dwelling  place  sweet  rice  and  cakes  and  a  quantity  of 
dried  boar's  flesh. 

And  the  Blessed  One  robed  himself  early  in  the 
morning,  and  taking  his  bowl,  went  with  the  brethren 
to  the  dwelling  place  of  Kunda.  And  when  he  was 
seated,  he  addressed  the  worker  in  metals,  and  said: 
"As  to  the  dried  boar's  flesh  you  have  made  ready, 
serve  me  with  it,  Kunda;  and  as  to  the  sweet  rice  and 
cakes  serve  the  brethren  with  it." 

' '  Even  so,  Lord, "  said  Kunda.  And  the  dried  boar's 
flesh  he  had  made  ready,  he  served  to  the  Blessed  One, 
whilst  the  other  food,  he  served  to  members  of  the  Order. 

Now  the  Blessed  One  addressed  Kunda  and  said: 
"Whatever  dried  boar's  flesh  is  left  over  to  thee, 
Kunda,  that  bury  in  a  hole.  I  see  no  one,  Kunda,  on 
earth,  nor  in  Mara's  heaven,  nor  in  Brahma's  heaven, 
no  one  among  gods  and  men,  by  whom,  when  he  had 
eaten  it,  that  food  can  be  assimilated,  save  by  the 
Tathagata."  "Even  so,  Lord!"  said  Kunda.  And 
whatever  dried  boar's  flesh  was  left  over,  he  buried 
in  a  hole. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     43 

Now  when  the  Blessed  One  had  eaten  the  food  pre- 
pared by  Kunda,  there  fell  upon  him  a  dire  sickness, 
and  sharp  pain  came  upon  him,  even  unto  death.  But 
the  Blessed  One,  mindful  and  self-possessed,  bore  it 
without  complaint. 

He  did  not  die  at  once  because  of  his  indiscretion, 
and  before  he  passed  away  he  exonerated  Kunda 
from  all  blame  in  the  matter: 

"  This  is  good  to  thee,  Kunda,  and  gain  to  thee,  in 
that  when  the  Tathagata  had  eaten  his  last  meal 
from  thy  provision,  then  he  died.  The  offering  of 
food,  which,  when  a  Tathagata  has  eaten  he  attains 
to  supreme  and  perfect  insight,  and  the  offering  of 
food,  which,  when  a  Tathagata  has  eaten,  he  passes 
away  by  that  utter  passing  away  in  which  nothing 
whatever  remains  behind  .  .  .  these  two  offerings 
of  food  are  of  equal  fruit,  and  equal  profit,  and  of 
much  greater  fruit,  and  much  greater  profit  than  any 
others."' 

The  body  of  Buddha  was  cremated,  and  the 
remains  were  divided  into  eight  parts,  one  of 
which  was  assigned  to  each  of  the  parties  claiming 
it.  Over  each  portion  of  the  relics  a  mound  was 
built  and  a  feast  was  held. 

It  is  probable  that  in  this  important  work,  which 
is  one  of  the  series  of  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East, 
we  have  much  of  history,  not  only  because  it  is 
one  of  the  oldest  of  the  Buddhist  productions, 

1  Maha-parinibbana  Suttana,  chap.  iv. 


44  Hinduism 

but  also  because  it  records  events  which  would 
not  be  allowed  in  a  work  of  fiction.  Orientalists 
have  called  attention  to  the  great  improbability 
that  the  followers  of  Buddha  should  fabricate  a 
story  to  the  effect  that  he  died  from  eating  too 
much  pork,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  had  always 
forbidden  the  killing  of  animals.  Many  animals 
were  held  to  be  especially  sacred  because  Buddha 
was  supposed  to  have  lived  in  such  forms  in  previ- 
ous births,  and  he  was  born  twice  as  a  pig. 

Nirvana.  This  term  was  not  original  with 
Buddha  as  it  was  certainly  current  before  his  time, 
and  it  is  still  common  to  both  Brahmanism  and 
Buddhism,  and  the  native  authorities  present  so 
many  contradictory  expositions  of  it,  that  it  has 
become  a  problem  among  scholars.  The  meaning 
of  the  word  is  "extinction,"  "blown  out,"  or  "the 
state  of  a  blown-out  flame."  The  Buddhist  who 
arrives  at  eternal  rest  is  supposed  to  be  "blown 
out  like  the  flame  of  a  candle."  But  we  cannot 
expect  such  a  term  to  be  explained  always  in  the 
same  way,  by  a  system  which  is  so  elastic  that  it 
changes  front  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  order 
to  suit  the  opinions  of  every  people  whom  it 
approaches.  Buddha  himself  frequently  spoke 
of  his  impending  death  as  "the  final  extinction 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     45 

of  the  Tathagata. "  Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams 
argues  that  Nirvana  is  not  in  itself  necessarily  the 
annihilation  of  all  existence,  it  is  the  absence  of 
pain  and  also  of  demerit — the  absence  of  all 
thought  and  all  work.  "It  is  not  consciousness, 
neither  is  it  unconsciousness."1 

Besides  Nirvana,  we  have  another  term — Pari- 
nirvana;  that  is,  "without  remains  or  remnants  of 
the  elements  of  existence."2  This  is  the  oblivion 
to  which  Rhys  Davids  refers  when  he  says: 
"Death,  utter  death,  with  no  new  life  to  follow, 
is  the  result  of  Nirvana."3  It  is  what  Williams 
calls  "The  extinction  of  personal  existence  in 
Pari-nirvana. " 

Hence,  although  there  are  various  shades  of 
thought  and  definition,  Oriental  scholars  agree 
that  the  summum  bonum  of  the  Buddhist  ambition 
is  the  absolute  nothing;  the  only  question  being 
whether  Nirvana  itself  is  utter  extinction,  or  only 
a  half -conscious  condition  which  is  to  be  succeeded 
by  eternal  oblivion.  It  is  true  that  Buddhists 
seeking  converts  in  Christian  countries  claim  that : 
"Nirvana  means  union  and  communion  with  God 
— the  absorption  of  the  soul  in  the  Divine  essence" ! 
But  no  position  can  be  more  absurd  than  this  in 

1  Williams,  Buddhism,  p.  141.       a  Childers's  Pali  Dictionary. 
3  Rhys  Davids,  B-uddhism.,  p.  114. 


46  Hinduism 

view  of  the  fact  that  genuine  Buddhism  believes  in 
no  God  with  whom  union  could  be  formed,  and 
no  soul  to  be  absorbed,  if  indeed  it  did  recognise 
a  Divine  Being.  Max  Miiller  says: 

Buddha  himself  was  certainly  an  atheist;  there- 
fore if  Nirvana  was  not,  in  his  mind,  complete  annihi- 
lation, still  less  could  it  have  been  absorption  into  the 
Divine  essence. J 

True  wisdom  (according  to  Buddha)  consists  in 
perceiving  the  nothingness  of  all  things,  and  in  the 
desire  to  become  nothing,  'to  be  blown  out,'  to 
enter  into  Nirvana.  Emancipation  is  obtained  by 
total  extinction  .  .  .  if  to  be,  is  misery,  then  not  to 
be,  must  be  felicity,  and  this  is  the  highest  reward  that 
Buddha  offered  to  his  disciples  I2 

Number  of  Adherents.  It  seems  to  have  become 
the  fashion  for  some  people  to  announce  that  "a 
majority  of  the  human  race  believe  in  the  doctrines 
of  Buddha, "  and  others,  though  less  thoughtless, 
are  giving  currency  to  the  statement  that  out  of 
the  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  earth's  inhabitants, 
at  least  five  hundred  millions  are  Buddhists ! 

It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  Bud- 
dhism has  virtually  disappeared  from  India  proper, 
although  according  to  the  census  of  1901,  they 
claimed  more  than  half  the  population  of  Burma 
and  its  borders,  where  the  most  of  them  in  that 

1  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  i.,  p.  284.  *Ibid.,  p.  227. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism      47 

region  have  congregated.1  Its  strongest  position 
is  in  China  and  Japan,  but  in  China,  the  principal 
religion  is  Confucianism.  The  best  authorities 
upon  this  subject,  including  the  late  Dr.  James 
Legge,  Professor  of  Chinese  in  Oxford  University, 
are  of  the  opinion  that  there  are  not  more  than 
one  hundred  millions  of  Buddhists  in  the  world. 

I  should  be  surprised,  [says  Prof.  Legge,]  if  it 
were  proved  that  there  are  one  hundred  millions  of 
men  in  this  world  who  would  write  down,  or  direct 
another  to  enter,  their  names  as  believers  in  Sakya- 
muni  (or  Buddha)  and  his  doctrines.2 

Although  the  question  of  the  truth  or  falsity  of 
any  position  can  never  be  indicated  by  the  number 
of  its  adherents,  still  it  is  well  to  ascertain  the 
numerical  strength  of  any  people  so  as  to  be  able 
to  estimate,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  influence  which 
they  may  have  in  the  world  of  thought. 

According  to  the  most  reliable  information 
which  can  be  obtained  concerning  the  present 
status  of  the  principal  religions  of  the  world,  they 
rank  in  point  of  numbers  as  follows:  Nominal 
Christianity;  Confucianism;  Brahmanism  and 
Hinduism;  Buddhism;  Mohammedanism;  and 
lastly  Taoism  (the  system  of  Lao-tsze);  Jainism; 

1  Encyclopedia  Britannica. 

a  Trans,  Ninth  International  Congress  of  Orientalists,  vol.  ii., 
p.  580. 


48  Hinduism 

Zoroastrianism;  the  others  being  too  small  to  be 
considered  in  this  estimate. x  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  Buddhism  numerically  occupies  the  fourth 
place,  although  its  adherents  are  fond  of  de- 
claring that  their  creed  "controls  the  thought  of 
the  greater  portion  of  the  world's  population"! 
Science  however  must  deal  with  facts  and  not  in 
fanciful  speculations.  The  incredible  figures 
claimed  by  Buddhists  must  have  been  obtained 
by  calculating  the  entire  population,  in  every 
country  where  the  system  has  a  foothold.  Or 
they  may  have  been  obtained  as  were  the  figures 
of  the  Buddhist  priests  who  returned  to  India 
and  told  the  people  there,  that  at  the  "World's 
Congresses"  which  they  attended  in  Chicago  in 
1893,  they  "made  thirty  thousand  converts  to  Bud- 
dhism" !  When  this  story  was  indignantly  denied 
by  Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows  they  promptly  qualified 
it  by  saying:  "Well  we  made  one  convert  who  was 
worth  as  much  as  thirty  thousand  common  men  " ! 

Expulsion  from  India.  The  expulsion  of  Bud- 
dhism from  India,  or  rather  its  extinction  by  absorp- 
tion and  amalgamation,  was  a  gradual  work  to 
which  no  very  definite  period  can  be  assigned. 

Even  in  Benares,  the  Chinese  writer  Hiouen 
Thasng  found  it  flourishing  side  by  side  with 

'Williams,  Buddhism,  p.  15. 


A  Protest  Against  Brahmanism     49 

Brahmanism  in  the  7th  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  In  other  parts  of  the  country  there  was 
probably  a  period  of  Brahmanical  hostility,  and 
in  some  cases,  perhaps,  actual  persecution,  but 
Buddhism  was  drawn  back  by  the  Brahmans, 
themselves,  who  finally  pacified  the  followers  of 
Buddha  by  boldly  claiming  that  he  was  one  of 
the  incarnations  of  Vishnu!  This  doctrine  of  the 
avatars  was  not  fully  developed  until  we  come 
down  to  the  Puranas  about  the  middle  of  the 
Christian  era.  The  old  Brahmans,  having  dis- 
covered the  efficacy  of  compromise,  overcame 
opposition  by  this  means  and  thus  enticed  the 
seceders  back  into  their  caste  system.  Only  a 
small  section  of  the  Buddhist  community  resisted 
all  attempts  at  amalgamation  and  the  successors  of 
these  are  the  Jains.  Jainism  appears  to  be  the 
only  sect  in  India  which  represents  Buddhistic 
ideas  and  this  is  a  near  relative  of  Buddhism  if  not 
its  actual  descendant.  There  is  no  reliable  proof 
that  any  religion  bearing  the  name  of  Jainism 
existed  before  the  time  of  Christ.  And  yet,  an 
advocate  of  this  system,  in  a  public  address  in 
Chicago,  in  1893,  declared:  "My  religion  was  old, 
when  the  pyramids  were  young!"  No  wonder  that 
Sir  William  Jones  remarked:  "The  comprehensive 
mind  of  an  Indian  chronologist  has  no  limits!" 


CHAPTER  III 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  HINDUISM 

Combination  of  Theories.  Burning  of  Widows.  The  Yoga 
Philosophy.  Brahma.  Shiva.  Ceremonies.  The  Tan- 
tras.  Kali,  Wife  of  Shiva. 

LJINDUISM  is  Brahmanism  modified  by  the 
*  •*  influence  of  Buddhism,  and  it  appears  to 
have  adopted  nearly  every  doctrine  of  the  later 
cult  except  its  atheism,  its  denial  of  the  existence 
of  the  soul,  and  its  levelling  of  caste  distinction. 

It  retained  the  pantheistic  idea  of  Brahmanism : 
" There  is  One  Being  and  no  second,"  but  it  is 
supposed  that  the  One  Supreme  Being  amuses 
himself  by  illusory  appearances — that  He  is 
manifested  variously,  as  light  manifests  itself  in 
the  rainbow;  and  all  visible  objects,  human 
beings  and  animals,  are  all  emanations  from  Him 
and  will  eventually  be  absorbed  into  His  essence. 

While  Hinduism  is  often  theistic  or  pantheistic, 
it  is  always  polytheistic,  the  various  theories  being 
constantly  interwoven  into  each  other,  and  hence 
more  than  a  hundred  millions  of  the  people  of 

50 


Development  of  Hinduism          51 

India  are  bewildered  with  the  strange  tenets  of  a 
creed  which  combines  the  teachings  of  monotheism 
with  the  worship  of  a  multitude  of  idols — which 
declares  at  one  time  there  is  but  one  God,  and 
still  constantly  inculcates  veneration  for  many 
of  the  Hindu  deities. 

From  the  few  gods  of  Vedaism,  the  pantheism 
and  polytheism  of  the  Brahmans,  and  the  athe- 
ism of  Buddha,  the  Hindus  have  evolved  a  sys- 
tem under  the  rule  of  which  their  pantheon 
contains  three  hundred  and  thirty  million  objects 
of  worship. 

This  later  cult  has  succeeded  in  embracing  some- 
thing from  most  other  available  creeds,  and  in 
presenting  phases  suited  to  many  minds.  It 
proclaims  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  sacrifices,  rites, 
austerities,  and  penances,  and  these  are  still  called 
"the  way  of  works."  It  also  advocates  faith  in 
multitudes  of  personal  deities,  and  this  is  called 
"the  way  of  faith  and  devotion." 

Burning  of  Widows.  This  horrible  rite  has 
certainly  been  found  in  India  as  early  as  300  B.C., 
and  Raja  Radhakant  Deb,  the  great  Hindu 
scholar,  claims  that  it  was  practised  from  very 
remote  times;  it  surely  flourished  there  to  a  very 
alarming  degree  during  the  prosperous  reign  of 
Hinduism.  At  the  close  of  the  i8th  century 


52  Hinduism 

seventy  widows  were  burned  alive  with  the  body 
of  one  of  the  rajas. 

It  was  not  practised  by  the  Buddhists,  but  with 
all  their  reverence  for  animal  and  insect  life,  we 
have  no  record  of  any  effort  being  made  by  them 
to  even  curtail  this  unparalleled  cruelty.  They 
were  afraid  to  kill  a  snake  or  other  reptile  lest  it 
might  be  a  new  form  worn  by  some  of  their  ances- 
tors; they  were  too  humane  to  kill  a  flea,  or  more 
revolting  insect;  but  they  looked  indifferently  on, 
while  women  were  burned  to  death  from  one  gener- 
ation to  another. 

When  British  rule  obtained,  a  guarantee  was 
given  the  natives  that  they  should  have  liberty  of 
conscience — that  their  religious  rites  should  not 
be  disturbed.  When,  therefore,  the  officers  of  the 
government  began  to  protest  against  these  brutal- 
ities, the  priests  stoutly  declared  that  it  was  a  part 
of  their  religion — that  it  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Veda,  and  the  English  could  not  touch  it  without 
breaking  their  solemn  pledge.  When  they  were 
asked  to  show  European  scholars  the  text  in  the 
Veda  which  sanctioned  such  barbarism  they  an- 
swered that  their  "holy  manuscripts  must  not  be 
desecrated  by  the  touch  of  an  unbeliever!" 

When,  however,  they  learned  that  the  govern- 
ment was  in  earnest — when  they  were  reminded 


Development  of  Hinduism     .     53 

that  while  they  were  to  have  liberty  of  conscience, 
they  would  not  be  allowed  to  commit  murder  in 
its  most  cruel  form,  if  it  could  be  legally  avoided, 
—then  they  deigned  to  produce  their  "evidence." 
Raghunandana  and  other  doctors  actually  quoted 
chapter  and  verse  which  they  claimed  to  be  from 
the  Rig-veda,  and  Colebrooke,  one  of  the  best 
Sanskrit  scholars  of  that  period,  was  obliged  to 
translate  it  according  to  their  assertions.  Dr. 
Horace  Hay  man  Wilson,  however,  at  last  obtained 
the  manuscripts,  and  discovered  that  the  docu- 
ments which  were  too  sacred  to  be  profaned  by  the 
hand  of  a  foreigner  had  actually  been  violated 
and  falsified  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  this 
horrible  practice. 

Prof.  F.  Max  Muller  well  said : 

This  is  perhaps  the  most  flagrant  instance  of  what 
can  be  done  by  an  unscrupulous  priesthood.  Here 
have  thousands  and  thousands  of  lives  been  sacrificed 
and  a  fanatical  rebellion  threatened  on  the  authority 
of  a  manuscript  which  was  mangled,  mistranslated, 
and  misapplied.  .  .  .  The  Rig-veda,  which  now 
hardly  one  Brahman  out  of  a  hundred  is  able  to  read, 
so  far  from  enforcing  the  burning  of  living  women, 
shows  clearly  that  the  custom  was  not  sanctioned 
during  the  earliest  period  of  Indian  history.1 

When    the  dishonesty  of    the  priesthood  was 

1  F.  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  ii.,  p.  34. 


54  Hinduism 

exposed,  Lord  William  Bentinck  suppressed  the 
crime,  for  the  Hindu  dignitaries  found  themselves 
one  morning  face  to  face  with  a  decree  which  they 
could  not  escape  nor  disannul.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  even  now,  living  women  are  sometimes  burned 
in  remote  districts,  and  under  conditions  of  secrecy 
which  prevent  discovery  by  the  King's  officers. 
And  yet,  in  defiance  of  the  historical  facts,  when 
a  self-styled  "swami"  in  America  was  recently 
questioned  on  this  subject  the  answer  was:  "It 
is  true  that  some  Hindu  widows  have  preferred 
to  be  burned  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  husbands, 
rather  than  to  meet  with  a  worse  fate  at  the  hands 
of  the  English  soldiers!" 

A  more  cunning  falsehood  could  hardly  be 
devised,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  according  to  the 
Hindu  authorities,  themselves,  this  horrible  rite 
obtained  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  before  a 
British  soldier  ever  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  India ! 

The  Yoga  Philosophy.  There  are  several  sys- 
tems of  philosophy  in  India,  but  that  which  seems 
to  be  most  strongly  advocated  among  moderns 
is  the  Yoga,  which  was  founded  by  Patanjali.1 
It  is  a  branch  of  the  Sankhya,  but  in  Europe  and 
America  it  seems  to  be  more  popular  than  its  parent. 

1  The  time  of  Patanjali  is  still  a  debated  question,  but  Max 
Muller  places  him  after  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era. 


Development  of  Hinduism         55 

The  aim  of  Yoga  is  to  teach  the  means  by  which 
the  human  soul  may  attain  complete  union  with 
the  Universal  Soul.  This  fusion  may  be  effected 
even  in  the  body  by  the  constant  habit  of  keeping 
the  mind  in  its  unmodified  state — a  state  clear 
as  crystal  when  uncoloured  by  contact  with  other 
substances.  The  eight  means  of  mental  concen- 
tration are  as  follows :  Restraint ;  religious  observ- 
ances; postures;  breathing  in  a  peculiar  way,  or  in 
the  suppression  of  the  breath;  restraint  of  the 
senses;  steadying  of  the  mind;  contemplation;  and 
profound  meditation,  or  a  state  of  trance  which 
is  most  effectually  attained  by  such  practices  as 
fixing  the  eyes  intently  and  incessantly  on  the  tip 
of  the  nose. 

The  Yoga  system  appears  in  fact,  [says  Williams], 
to  be  a  mere  contrivance  for  getting  rid  of  all  thought, 
or  of  concentrating  the  mind  with  the  utmost  intensity 
upon  nothing  in  particular. 

Ordinarily  it  is  a  strange  compound  of  exercises 
consisting  of  forced  and  painful  postures,  twisting 
and  contortions  of  the  limbs,  and  suppressions  of  the 
breath  undertaken  apparently  with  no  object  except 
to  attain  complete  vacuity  of  mind  ' 

The  most  unnatural  and  painful  postures  are 
sometimes  persisted  in  for  years ;  the  variety  and 
intensity  of  the  various  forms  of  suffering  which 

1  Williams,  Hind.,  pp.  200-201. 


56  Hinduism 

are  thus  self-inflicted  would  surpass  belief  if  they 
were  not  attested  by  trustworthy  witnesses.  A 
Hindu  priest  advocating  the  practices  of  his  cult 
on  American  soil  admits  that  insanity  is  sometimes 
the  result  of  the  Yoga  teaching.  He  says : 

Raja-yoga  is  stopping  the  functions  of  the  mind's 
volitions.  By  volitions  of  the  mind,  are  meant 
thought  currents. 

By  the  practice  of  Raja-yoga,  the  outflow  of  these 
thought  currents  can  be  entirely  stopped  and  turned 
inwards  in  one  concentrated  stream  upon  the  soul. 

He  admonishes  his  devotees  wishing  to  pursue  the 
course  to  be  sure  and  secure  the  services  of  a 
proper,  and  we  may  add,  a  well-paid,  "  guru."  He 
says: 

An  adept  Yogi-guru,  without  whose  help  in  every 
detail  of  it  no  student  can  attain  the  highest  results, 
is  very  hard  to  be  found.  Many  who  now  practise 
it  under  inexperienced  gurus  in  India  meet  with 
early  death,  or  develop  incurable  diseases,  or  even  turn 
insane  ! 

This  fact  has  already  been  illustrated  by  sending 
back  to  their  friends  in  America  the  hopelessly 
insane  who  went  to  India  to  study  the  theories  and 
practices  of  Hinduism. 

Brahma.  Among  the  multitudinous  gods  of 
this  period,  the  principal  deities  are  Brahma,  Shiva, 


Development  of  Hinduism          57 

and  Vishnu.  The  first  of  these  is  said  in  the  Code 
of  Manu  to  have  been  the  first  male  (Purusha) 
and  to  have  been  produced  from  the  Supreme  Self- 
existent  Spirit: 

And  Brahma,  having  divided  his  own  substance,  be- 
came half  male  and  half  female,  and  from  that  female 
was  born  Virag,  and  from  Virag  was  born  Manu,  the 
second  progenitor  and  producer  of  all  beings. 

Furthermore,  he  modestly  (?)  informs  us:  "  The 
god  Brahma,  having  formed  this  system  of  laws 
himself,  taught  it  fully  to  me  in  the  beginning!"1 

In  the  Brahmanas,  the  only  real  entity  had  been 
brahman  in  the  neuter  gender,  when  impersonal; 
when  he  became  masculine,  he  became  the  creator, 
and  when  manifested  in  the  higher  order  of  men, 
he  was  called  Brahmana — the  Brahmans.  It  is 
claimed  that  gods  and  men  and  demons  were  re- 
constructed from  previous  forms,  and  the  bodies 
which  Brahma  abandoned  became  day,  night, 
dawn,  evening,  etc. 

Afterward  the  hairs  of  Brahma  which  were  shrivelled 
up  fell  from  his  head  and  became  serpents.  The 
creator  of  the  world  being  incensed  by  the  loss  of 
his  hair,  created  fierce  beings  who  were  denominated 
goblins — they  were  malignant  fiends,  and  eaters  of 
flesh.  The  divine  Brahma  then  created  birds  from 

1  Manu,  i.,  ii.,  32. 


58  Hinduism 

his  own  vitality,  sheep  from  his  breast,  cows  from  his 
side,  horses,  elephants,  and  other  animals  from  his 
feet,  whilst  from  the  hairs  of  his  body  grew  roots  and 
herbs.  * 

This  god  is  represented  as  having  four  faces, 
and  either  riding  upon  a  swan,  or  closely  accom- 
panied by  that  bird.  At  the  close  of  the  enormous 
periods  given  as  the  sum  of  his  life2  Brahma  him- 
self expires,  and  with  him  the  other  gods,  when 
everything  in  the  world  is  resolved  back  into 
primary  matter,  or  primary  spirit,  according  to 
the  different  theories  of  the  various  philosophers. 

Shiva  or  Siva.3  Shiva  ranks  as  the  greatest 
ascetic  and  he  is  represented  as  sitting  under  a 
tree,  while  the  canopy  which  covers  him  is  formed 
of  a  serpent's  head.  There  he  remains  motionless, 
and  immovable,  as  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  rooted 
to  the  same  spot  for  millions  of  years.  He  is  the 
representative  Yogi,  and  his  Hindu  devotees  are 

1  Aitarea-brahmana,  ii.,  4-io. 

3  One  day  in  the  life  of  Brahma  consists  of  2,160,000,000  of 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  period,  he  sleeps,  and  then  reconstructs 
the  world.  He  lives  one  hundred  of  these  days,  which  complete 
the  life  of  Brahma. 

*  This  name  is  usually  written  Siva,  but  in  that  case  there 
should  be  a  diacritical  point  on  the  first  letter,  giving  it  the  sound 
of  Sh.  As  these  points  have  not  been  considered  essential  in 
the  present  volume,  the  name  is  here  spelled  as  pronounced,  the 
same  rule  being  followed  in  the  kindred  appellations  of  Saiv- 
ism,  Sakti,  Saktism,  etc. 


Development  of  Hinduism         59 

called  Yogis,  who  worship  him  as  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  by  the  constant  practice  of  Yoga  they 
hope  to  attain  union  with  this  deity.  The  gods 
themselves  are  represented  as  having  attained  their 
position  through  the  performance  of  rites  and  sac- 
rifices. In  the  Satapatha-brahmana  it  is  said : 

The  gods  lived  constantly  in  fear  of  death — 
The  mighty  Ender;  so  with  toilsome  rites 
They  worshipped  and  performed  religious  acts 
Till  they  became  immortal. 
Then  the  Ender  said  to  the  gods, 
"As  ye  have  made  yourselves 
Imperishable,  so  will  men  endeavour 
To  free  themselves  from  me — what  portion  then 
Shall  I  possess  in  man?"     The  gods  replied, 
"Henceforth  no  being  shall  become  immortal 
In  his  own  body;  this  his  mortal  frame 
Shalt  thou  seize;  this  shall  remain  thine  own, 
This  shall  become  perpetually  thy  food."1 

Shiva  was  developed  from  Rudra,  one  of  the 
storm-gods  who  rode  in  the  train  of  Indra;  as  one 
of  the  manifestations  of  Brahma,  he  became  the 
world-dissolver.  His  function  of  destroyer  is  in- 
terchangeable with  that  of  creator,  in  which  form 
he  is  worshipped  throughout  the  Empire.  In  this 
character  he  is  represented  by  the  reproductive 
linga  and  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  more  than 
twenty-eight  millions  of  these  stone  objects  of 

1  Satapatha-brahmana,  Williams's  trans. 


60  Hinduism 

worship  in  India.1  He  is  sometimes  represented 
as  a  naked  ascetic  with  matted  hair  and  his  body 
covered  with  ashes,  while  again  he  is  wild  and 
jovial,  fond  of  liquor  and  dancing,  living  in  the 
Himalaya  Mountains  with  his  wife  in  various  forms 
and  surrounded  by  a  group  of  grotesque  attendants 
who,  like  their  master,  are  excited  by  drink.  The 
personal  appearance  of  Shiva  must  be  rather 
striking,  as  it  is  said  his  throat  is  black  and  his 
hair  bright  red;  the  number  of  his  hands  varies 
with  different  authorities,  some  claiming  that  he 
has  four,  while  others  insist  that  he  has  eight. 

He  has  five  faces,  in  one  of  which  there  is  a 
third  eye  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead. 
His  garment  is  a  tiger  skin,  while  around  his  neck 
are  two  necklaces,  one  of  them  being  made  of 
human  skulls,  and  the  other  of  serpents  which 
twist  their  horrible  forms  around  his  neck  and 
body. 

In  fact  he  bristles  everywhere  with  living  snakes 
— he  wears  them  as  ornaments  on  his  hands,  they 
are  bound  in  his  long  matted  hair,  they  coil  around 
his  feet  and  legs,  they  hang  like  mammoth  pendants 
from  his  ears,  until  he  is  like 

Gorgon  rising  from  the  infernal  lakes, 

With  horrors  armed,  and  curls  of  hissing  snakes. 

1  Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  325. 


Development  of  Hinduism          61 

He  rides  upon  a  white  bull  which  is  his  constant 
companion.  Four  of  the  Pur  anas  make  Shiva  the 
Supreme  God  and  he  enjoys  a  fame  which  reaches 
much  farther  back  than  that  of  Vishnu,  the  pre- 
server. In  the  later  Hindu  scriptures  he  assumes 
a  multitude  of  functions,  each  of  them  being  in- 
dicated by  one  of  his  thousand  and  one  names. 
Aside  from  the  phallic  worship  which  is  the  main 
feature  of  his  dominance,  to  which  allusion  has 
already  been  made,  the  most  important  teaching 
of  Shaivism  is  Yoga,  its  favourite  philosophy. 

Although  the  quotations  and  descriptions  given 
above  are  taken  from  their  own  standard  books, 
the  Hindu  priests  in  Europe  and  America  are 
declaring : 

Shiva  is  the  presiding  Deity  of  the  weal  of  crea- 
tion, hence  his  name — Shiva.  He  is  the  conqueror 
and  destroyer  of  darkness.  He  helps  his  devotees  to 
dispel  the  darkness  of  ignorance  generated  in  their 
minds  by  its  Tama  Attribute  .  .  .  and  thus  uncover 
its  attribute  of  Sattwa  by  the  illumination  of  which 
their  souls  reach  the  state  of  Moksha — freedom  from 
the  bondage  of  matter — and  finally  merge  into  the 
Divine  Essence  whence  it  originally  sprang. 

Thus  do  they  misrepresent  the  teaching  of  their 
own  sacred  books  for  the  sake  of  winning  converts 
and  getting  Anglo-Saxon  gold  into  their  possession. 


62  Hinduism 

Ceremonies.  Dr.  Rajandra-lala  Mitra  is  the 
native  authority  for  the  following  description  of 
the  services  at  the  great  Shiva  temple  in  Orissa. 
Shiva  is  here  worshipped  under  the  form  of  his 
symbol,  which  is  a  large  uncarved  block  of  granite, 
about  eight  feet  long,  but  which  is  partly  buried  in 
the  ground ;  the  daily  devotion  here  consists  of  no 
less  than  twenty- two  ceremonial  acts: 

(1)  At  the  first  appearance  of  the  dawn,  bells  are 
rung  to  arouse  the  deity  from  his  slumbers. 

(2)  A  lamp  with  many  wicks  is  waved  in  front  of 
the  stone. 

(3)  The  god's  teeth  are  cleaned  by  pouring  water 
on  the  symbol. 

(4)  The  god  is  bathed  by  pouring  several  pitchers 
full  of  water  on  the  stone. 

(5)  He   is    dressed    by    putting    clothes    on    the 
symbol. 

(6)  His    first    breakfast    is    offered,  consisting    of 
grain,  sweetmeats,  and  curds,  besides  cocoanuts. 

(7)  Shiva  has  his  principal  breakfast,  when  cakes 
and  more  substantial  viands  are  served. 

(8)  A  light  lunch  is  offered. 

(9)  He  has  his  regular  lunch. 

(10)  The  midday  dinner  is  served,  consisting  of 
curry,  rice,  pastry,  cakes,  cream,  etc.,  while  the  priest 
waves  a  many-flamed  lamp  and  burns  incense  before 
the  stone. 

(n)  Strains  of  discordant  music  rouse  the  god 
from  his  afternoon  nap  at  four  o'clock,  the  temple 


Development  of  Hinduism         63 

having  been  closed  during  the  preceding  hours  in 
order  to  give  him  an  opportunity  to  sleep. 

(12)  Sweetmeats  are  offered. 

(13)  The  afternoon  bath  is  administered. 

(14)  He  is  dressed  as  in  the  morning. 

(15)  Another  meal  is  served. 

(16)  Another  bath  is  administered. 

(17)  The  full  dress  ceremony  takes  place,  when 
costly  vestments  are  placed  upon  the  stone,  with 
yellow  flowers,  and  p  rfumery. 

(18)  Another  offering  of  food  is  presented. 

(19)  After  an  interval  of  an  hour,  another  meal. 

(20)  Five  masks  and  a  damaru  are  brought  in. 
The  masks  represent  the  five  faces  of  Shiva,  and  the 
damaru  is  a  sort  of  rattle  or  drum,  shaped  like  an 
hour-glass.      The  god  is  supposed  to  use  this  as  a 
musical  instrument  while  dancing. 

(21)  The  waving  of  lights  is  again  performed  just 
before  bedtime. 

(22)  A  bedstead  is  brought  in,  and  Shiva  is  ready 
for  his  night's  rest.  * 

This  daily  performance  by  a  corps  of  priests  is 
one  form  of  worship,  but  this  is  comparatively 
innocent,  and  that  cannot  be  said  of  all  of  them, 
for  just  as  the  Vaishnavas  worship  ten  male  incar- 
nations of  Vishnu,  so  the  Shaktas  worship  ten 
female  manifestations  of  Shiva,  or  rather  of  his 
Shakti  or  energy. 

On  his  return  from  India,  President  Barrows  of 

*  Rajandra-lala  Mitra,  vol.  ii.  of  his  work  on  Orissa. 


64  Hinduism 

Oberlin  testified  that  mothers  bring  their  young 
daughters  to  the  temples  of  Shiva  and  there  dedi- 
cate them  to  a  life  of  shame  in  his  service. 

"The  Shivite  cult,"  says  Bhattacharya,  "is  the 
most  common  and  ancient  form  of  abomination 
worship."1  See  also  this  author's  description  of 
the  horrible  rites  practised  by  various  sects  of 
Yoga,  Aghoris,  Shaktas,  or  Tantriks,  all  of  which 
are  different  forms  of  Shiva  worship. 

The  Aghoris  and  Panthi  Yogis  profess  to  carry 
to  its  logical  sequence  the  Vedanta  philosophy 
which  was  so  highly  eulogised  in  America  by 
Vivekananda,  and  they  claim  that  eating  human 
flesh  which  has  reached  the  stage  of  putrefaction 
will  give  them  a  knowledge  of  magic.  There  is  a 
Gujerati  work  called  Agama-prakasa,  the  author 
of  which  asserts  that  there  are  instances  of  these 
devotees  eating  corpses  which  are  stolen  from  the 
Mohammedan  bury  ing-grounds,  and  that  the 
head  of  the  Aghoris  sect  living  near  Siddhapur, 
subsists  upon  scorpions,  lizards,  and  loathesome 
insects  which  have  been  left  to  partial  decay  in  the 
skulls  of  dead  men. 2 

The  fact  is  [says  the  learned  Brahman]  that  as 
Brahmanism  inculcated  cleanliness  and  the  eating  of 

1  Bhatt.,  Hindu  Castes  and  Sects,  pp.  368-9. 

a  Quoted  by  Williams,  Brain,  and  Hind.,  pp.  87-94. 


Development  of  Hinduism         65 

wholesome  food,  the  Aghoris,  who  formed  one  of  the 
sects  setting  up  '  opposition  shops'  as  it  were,  insisted 
upon  the  utmost  degree  of  filth  and  hoped  to  get  alms 
by  horrifying  the  people,  and  not  by  getting  their 
respect. x 

The  British  Government  of  course  is  not  encour- 
aging this  sort  of  thing.  For  instance  we  have 
a  record  of  one  of  them  by  the  name  of  Krishna 
Das  Babaji  who  was  fined  fifteen  rupees  by 
Mr.  Ishan  Chandra  Sen,  Deputy  Magistrate  of 
Berhampore,  for  committing  a  public  nuisance,  by 
devouring  part  of  a  woman's  corpse  in  the  presence 
of  a  company  of  people  at  a  burning  ghat.  Some 
of  the  Aghori-panthis  claim  that  if,  at  initiation, 
they  refuse  to  eat  dead  men's  flesh,  they  would  be 
dismissed  by  the  guru  as  unfit  for  their  calling. 
Convictions  and  fines  have  made  these  offensive 
creatures  much  less  intrusive  upon  the  public, 
and  it  is  believed  that  their  numbers  are  happily 
decreasing.  "Yet  many  may  still  be  found,  who 
believe  they  are  propitiating  Shiva,  not  by  wor- 
ship, but  by  feeding  upon  filth  and  offal  of  all 
kinds."2 

The   Tantras.     These  books  are  listed  in  the 
seventh  division  of  the  enumeration  of  the  nine 

1  Bhattacharya,  Hindu  Castes  and  Sects,  pp.  393-394. 
3  Williams,  Brah.  and  Hind.,  pp.  87-94. 
S 


66  Hinduism 

canonical  scriptures  and  the  majority  are  more 
modern  than  the  Pur  anas,  although  some  of  them 
may  have  been  contemporaneous  with  a  portion  of 
that  enormous  series. 

They  have  never  been  fully  translated  into 
English,  but  some  unhappy  scholar  of  the  future 
may  be  obliged  to  examine  the  loathsome  pages 
more  fully  than  has  as  yet  been  done.  The  nause- 
ous taste  repelled  even  the  self-sacrificing  industry 
of  Burnouf  when  he  found  them  to  be  as  immoral 
as  they  are  absurd. 

A  Brahman  writing  from  Calcutta  says: 

The  Tantras  recommending  human  sacrifice  are  ac- 
cepted as  authority  by  the  Brahmans  of  almost  all 
classes  throughout  India.  Yet  in  practice,  the  only 
animals  usually  sacrificed  by  the  Shakti  worshippers 
in  Northern  India  re  the  sheep  and  the  goat. 

He  might  have  added  that  the  credit  of  nearly 
putting  an  end  to  human  sacrifice  in  India  belongs 
to  the  British  Government.  Nevertheless  the 
crime  is  sometimes  committed  in  remote  districts 
and  Crooke  mentions  significant  instances  of  the 
kind  as  having  taken  place  during  the  last  few 
years. J 

"The  Tantrik  and  the  Shivite  cults  being  equally 

'  W.  Crooke,  B.A.,  of  the  Bengal  Civil  Service,  Pop.  Rel  and 
Folk-Lore  of  Northern  India,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171. 


Development  of  Hinduism         67 

indecent,  their  gurus  cannot  ordinarily  explain 
their  true  nature.'*1 

Shaktism,  [says  Williams],  is  devotion  to  the  wives 
of  Shiva  as  impersonations  of  the  forces  of  nature  in 
female  form .  .  .  N  .  It  might  be  expected  that  a 
creed  like  this  would  be  likely  to  degenerate  into 
various  forms  of  licentiousness  on  the  one  hand  and 
witchcraft  on  the  other.  But  if  such  consequences 
might  be  expected,  the  actual  fact  has  been  worse 
than  could  be  foretold  by  the  most  gloomy  pessimist. 
...  In  Shaktism  we  are  confronted  with  the  worst 
possible  results,  and  the  most  superstitious  ideas, 
that  have  disgraced  and  degraded  the  human  race. 
As  the  most  conspicuous  god  of  the  Puranas  is  Vishnu 
with  his  incarnations,  so  the  most  prominent  deity 
of  the  Tantras  is  Shiva  in  his  manifestations,  especially 
in  the  innumerable  forms  of  his  female  counterparts. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  there  are  a 
few  Tantras  which  substitute  Radha,  the  first  wife 
of  Krishna,  for  Durga  or  Kali,  the  wife  of  Shiva.2 

And  yet  this  cult  has  been  successfully  introduced 
into  both  Europe  and  America.  In  the  United 
States,  the  initiates  are  under  the  care  of  five  gurus, 
one  of  whom  calls  himself  "  Om,  the  Omnipotent, " 
and  flourished  financially  in  New  York  until  his 
headquarters  were  closed  by  the  police,  when  he  was 
compelled  to  seek  his  victims  in  other  cities. 

Kali,  the  Wife  of  Shiva.      Some  confusion  has 

1  Bhatt.,  Hind.  Castes  and  Sects,  pp.  87,  451-452. 
'Williams,  Brah.  and  Hind.,  pp.  189-190. 


68  Hinduism 

obtained  on  this  subject  from  the  fact  that  Shiva 
had  several  wives,  but  the  goddess  who  is  adored 
on  American  soil  as  the  "Conqueress  of  Time  and 
the  Door  of  Eternity*'  is  Kali,  who  is  worshipped 
in  Bengal  under  the  name  of  Durga,  where  she  rides 
upon  a  tiger,  but  at  Calcutta  and  Benares  she  is 
the  veritable  goddess  of  destruction  and  she  is 
terrible  indeed.  As  to  the  personal  appearance  of 
this  deity,  the  following  is  a  free  translation  by 
Williams  of  two  passages  in  the  Tantras : 

A  Kaulika  [worshipper  of  Kali,  or  Shakti]  should 
worship  Kali  who  lives  among  dead  bodies;  who  is 
terrible  and  has  fearful  aws ;  who  has  uncombed  hair 
and  a  glowing  tongue ;  who  constantly  drinks  blood — 
who  has  four  hands,  and  a  splendid  garland  formed  of 
the  heads  of  the  giants  she  has  slain,  and  whose  blood 
she  has  drunk — who  has  a  sword  in  her  lotus  hand — 
who  is  fearless  and  awards  blessings.  .  .  . 

She  is  black  as  the  large  clouds  and  has  the  whole 
sky  for  her  clothes.  She  has  a  string  of  skulls  around 
her  neck,  and  her  throat  is  besmeared  with  blood. 
She  wears  earrings  consisting  of  two  dead  bodies; 
she  has  terrible  teeth,  and  a  smiling  face,  her  form  is 
awful  and  she  dwells  in  the  burning  grounds  for  the 
consuming  of  corpses. * 

According  to  Bhattacharya,  this  description  is 
exceedingly  mild.  He  claims  that  the  symbolism 

1  Williams,  Brah.  and  Hind,  pp.,  198-199. 


Development  of  Hinduism         69 

attached  to  this  dreadful  figure  is  vastly  worse  than 
any  picture  of  the  idol  can  possibly  be.  He  says : 

The  true  nature  of  such  images  is  not  generally  known, 
though  it  is  defined  in  unmistakable  terms  in  the 
Dhyan,  or  formula  for  contemplating  the  goddess 
Kali.  .  .  .  What  its  real  meaning  is,  cannot 
possibly  be  explained  here.  Those  inclined  to  dive 
into  such  filth  must  study  the  ritual  for  Kali  wor- 
ship. ' 

This  goddess  who  thirsts  for  human  blood  is 
worshipped  with  the  same  revolting  ceremonies  as 
when  she  is  adored  and  propitiated  under  the  name 
of  Durga. 

Modern  Devotees.  Although  this  description  of 
Kali  is  taken  from  their  own  official  text -books, 
and  although  Hindus  themselves  admit  that  the 
pen-picture  is  a  small  part  of  the  truth,  still  white 
women  are  being  taught  to  invoke  this  horrible 
myth  as  "The  good  mother  of  all  the  suffering 
ones  of  earth!"  If  Anglo-Saxons  are  desirous  of 
invoking  "Kali,  Mother  Kali,'*  the  only  proper 
place  to  do  so  is  in  her  own  temple  at  Benares, 
a  brief  description  of  which  will  be  found  in  the 
following  chapter.  Let  them  bring  their  offerings 
of  money  and  flowers  to  this  shrine  where  a  vivid 

1  Bhatt.,  p.  408. 


70  Hinduism 

representation  of  the  goddess  is  reeking  with  the 
stench  of  putrefying  blood,  and  there  piously 
invoke  "Kali,  Mother  Kali!" 

Availing  themselves  of  the  profound  ignorance 
of  their  devotees  on  this  subject,  the  gurus  in 
America  are  declaring  that: 

Without  Durga,  his  Shakti  (energy),  Shiva  is  inert; 
with  his  Shakti,  he  is  alive  and  rules  the  universe. 
.  .  .  Durga  is  the  highest  spiritual  phase  of  Kali — 
Conqueress  of  Time  and  Door  of  Eternity.  .  .  . 
Her  devotees,  called  Shaktas  (Shakti  worshippers), 
meditate  upon  her  as  the  Great  Mother,  and  pray 
to  her  for  her  grace.  .  .  .  They  are  helped  to 
Moskha,  or  led  into  the  path  of  Krishna;  this  last  is 
the  greatest  of  all  her  gifts. 

An  Englishwoman  who  is  now  a  nun  of  the 
Rama- Krishna  order  was  summoned  from  India 
to  America  to  exercise  especial  supervision  over  a 
rich  woman  and  her  money,  lest  some  traces  of 
reason  might  be  revived  in  her  enfeebled  mind. 
This  keeper  of  the  diseased  and  infatuated  woman 
kept  her  own  daughter  away  from  the  bedside  of 
the  patient,  and  after  her  death,  the  cult  through 
its  representatives  made  a  fight  in  the  courts  for 
her  fortune,  but  were  fortunately  defeated.  But 
this  Englishwoman  who  thus  became  the  willing 
tool  of  the  Hindu  priest  not  only  performs  her 


Development  of  Hinduism         71 

daily  acts  of  devotion  before  the  picture  or  image 
of  a  heathen  deity,  but  says  her  prayers  to  "Kali, 
the  Divine  Mother!"  concerning  whose  beauties 
and  glories  she  has  written  a  book! 


CHAPTER  IV 

MODERN  HINDUISM 

Phases  of  Idolatry.  Temples  of  Shiva.  Shrine  of  Kali.  Tem- 
ples of  Vishnu.  Demons  and  Devils.  Hanuman,  the  Mon- 
key God.  Serpent  Worship.  Other  Sacred  Animals.  Deified 
Trees  and  Plants.  Position  of  Widows.  Panditi  Ramabai. 

HPHERE  is  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  idolatry 
during  the  Vedic  period,  and  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  prevailed  very  extensively  at  the  time 
of  the  early  compilation  of  the  Code  of  Manu, 
although  it  is  there  declared  that  the  accidental 
breaker  of  images  shall  repair  them,  and  also  pay  a 
fine.  The  pandits  insist  that  there  was  no  idolatry 
in  India  until  it  was  introduced  by  the  Buddhists. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  Hinduism  has  assigned 
no  limits  to  the  ever-increasing  number  of  its  gods, 
many  of  whom  are  represented  by  thousands  of 
figures,  so  the  idol  census  of  India  can  be  only 
guesswork.  Even  rough  stones  which  are  supposed 
to  have  fallen  from  heaven  are  among  the  ob- 
jects of  adoration,  and  frequently  have  temples  or 
shrines  built  above  them.  Small  pebbles  found  in 

72 


Modern  Hinduism  73 

rivers  are  often  reverenced,  and  they  are  held  to 
be  pervaded  by  the  presence  of  deity  and  need  no 
consecration.  Artificial  idols,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  consecrated  with  a  long  ceremony  called 
"endowing  with  breath,"  and  until  this  is  done 
they  are  not  objects  of  worship. 

Temples  of  Shiva.  Benares  is  especially  noted 
as  a  sacred  city.  It  is  described  as  having  been 
separated  from  the  world  by  the  Creator  and 
placed  upon  one  of  the  points  of  Shiva's  trident; 
consequently  it  is  crowded  with  shrines  and  idols. 
Not  only  this  but  sacred  bulls  jostle  against  the 
visitor  in  the  streets,  and  impudent  monkeys  make 
free  with  his  belongings,  while  everywhere  images, 
symbols,  holy  wells  and  trees  intrude  upon  his 
vision.  There  are  about  two  thousand  temples 
here,  in  a  city  of  something  more  than  200,000 
inhabitants,  and  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  half 
a  million  idols  receive  the  adoration  and  the  offer- 
ings of  the  multitude.  Shiva  is  the  favourite  deity 
with  the  upper  classes  (as  Krishna  is  of  the  others), 
and  among  the  millions  of  his  stone  symbols,  many 
have  shrines  built  above  them.  Beside  one  of  his 
temples  at  Benares  there  is  the  "holy  well  of 
knowledge"  where  it  is  said  the  idol  voluntarily 
took  refuge  when  his  house  was  destroyed  by  the 


74  Hinduism 

Mohammedan  invaders.  This  well  is  the  constant 
resort  of  devotees  who  throw  into  its  depths  offer- 
ings of  rice  and  flowers,  until  the  putrid  condition 
of  the  water  makes  the  whole  neighbourhood  intol- 
erable. But  still  a  Brahman  is  constantly  employed 
in  drawing  up  the  loathsome  fluid  which  is  called 
"the  water  of  purification,"  and  selling  it  to  the 
crowds,  who  gladly  pay  a  large  price  and  eager- 
ly drink  it,  in  order  that  the  foul  water  may 
cleanse  their  fouler  souls !  x 

There  are  said  to  be  one  thousand  and  eight 
temples  of  Shiva  in  India  (one  for  each  of  his 
names),  and  of  these  the  most  important  is  the 
great  structure  near  the  celebrated  rock  of  Tri- 
chinopoly  which  has  been  dedicated  to  him  as 
"The  Lord  of  the  Jambu  Tree." 

This  shrine  has  many  beautiful  colonnades  and 
pillars,  while  in  the  central  court  there  is  a  large 
column  of  metal  from  which  a  flag  is  flung  to  the 
breeze,  and  near  it  is  the  tree  over  which  the  god 
is  supposed  to  preside.  In  other  temples  he  is 
worshipped  as  "The  Peerless  Lord  of  the  Mango 

1  Having  quite  recently  returned  to  Oxford  after  spending  a 
winter  in  India  and  China,  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce  in  a  personal  letter 
to  the  author  says:  "Hinduism  has  its  centre  at  Benares,  which 
is  a  nightmare  of  disgusting  horrors.  One  of  the  most  eminent 
archaeologists  in  India  said  to  me  :  '  India  has  no  art,  no  history, 
and  no  industries  of  its  own.'  That  is  most  true,  and  must  re- 
main true  as  long  as  Hinduism  exists. " 


Modern  Hinduism  75 

Tree";  in  another  as  "Lord  of  the  Vata  Tree"  or 
banyan;  in  a  shrine  in  the  south  of  Vindhya  he  is 
adored  as  "Lord  of  the  Vineyard." 

Shrine  of  Kali.  It  is  also  at  Benares  that  we 
find  the  elaborate  temple  which  is  dedicated  to 
Kali,  the  favourite  wife  of  Shiva.  Judge  Henry 
Austin,  who  has  recently  visited  Benares,  and  the 
famous  temple  of  Kali,  or  Durga,  gives  a  graphic 
description  of  this  place  of  worship  as  seen  by  an 
eye-witness.  He  says : 

It  is  sometimes  called  the  Monkey  Temple  on  ac- 
count of  the  multitudes  of  repulsive  monkeys  that 
swarm  there;  they  have  become  impudent  from  over- 
kindness  and  unhealthy  from  overeating. 

Within  the  temple,  the  centre  of  attention  is  the 
shrine  of  Kali,  a  bloodthirsty  she-demon  whose 
thirst  must  be  quenched  daily.  She  loomed  up  as  a 
hideous  black  figure  with  distorted  face  and  open 
mouth,  her  tongue  hanging  to  the  waist  line.  About 
her  body,  huge  serpents  writhed  and  at  her  throat  was 
a  necklace  of  human  skulls. 

Idols  of  this  engaging  creature  are  in  every  village 
in  India,  but  the  centre  of  her  cult  is  Benares.  There 
in  the  court  occur  the  daily  sacrifices  to  her,  which, 
thanks  to  the  British  rule,  no  longer  consist  in  de- 
capitating young  children. 

Kali  must  now  be  satisfied  with  the  blood  of  a  goat 
that  is  killed  by  the  same  method  that  the  children 
were.  The  goat  is  stretched  forward  and  a  priest 


76  Hinduism 

severs  the  animal's  head  with  a  single  stroke  of  a 
sharp  knife,  then  the  hot  blood  is  smeared  upon  the 
faces  of  the  priests  before  they  go  into  the  presence 
of  Kali,  to  pour  the  warm  blood  over  her  malodorous 
figure.  Unless  this  is  done  daily,  she  will  bring  pesti- 
lence and  famine  upon  the  land. 

Usually  the  head  of  the  goat  alone  is  taken  to  the 
goddess  and  the  blood-stained  priests  dance  about  the 
body  chanting  weird  songs,  while  hundreds  of  grey 
mangy  monkeys  chatter  at  them  from  their  perches 
on  the  porticoes,  window  ledges,  and  elsewhere.  In 
times  of  famine,  the  goat  is  not  enough  for  Kali, 
and  one  of  the  great  water  buffaloes  is  brought  in  and 
decapitated. ' 

And  yet,  this  very  goddess,  reeking  with  the  stench 
of  decaying  blood,  is  eulogised  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica as  "the  Divine  Mother"!  White  women  are 
being  taught  that  this  loathsome  myth  "holds 
the  key  of  the  gate  of  Goloka,  Krishna's  Abode 
of  Love  bliss  "! 

Temples  of  Vishnu.  These  are  abundant  all 
over  the  country;  the  best  known  of  them  being 
that  of  Jagan-nath  at  Puri  in  Orissa,  where  the 
images  of  Krishna  with  those  of  his  brother,  and 
sister  are  found.  Major-General  Cunningham,  who 
so  ably  conducted  the  Archaeological  Survey  of 
India,  has  demonstrated  that  these  three  images 

1  Judge  Austin,  New  England  Magazine,  vol.  xliii.,  May,  p.  17* 


Modern  Hinduism  77 

in  the  Jagan-nath  temple  were  derived  from  the 
three  combined  emblems  of  the  Buddhist  Trinatra. 

The  most  elaborate  shrine  of  Vaishnavism  is 
the  Sri-rangam  located  on  an  island  of  that  name 
in  the  river  Kaveri.  It  might  be  called  a  city 
within  itself  as  hundreds  of  Brahmans  live  there, 
and  multitudes  of  pilgrims  throng  the  streets. 
It  is  composed  of  seven  great  enclosures,  one  within 
the  other,  the  theory  being  that  each  bulwark  of 
massive  walls  includes  a  court  of  increasing  sanc- 
tity, until  the  devotees  shall  reach  the  centre  where 
the  great  idol  lies  in  state.  Every  surrounding 
wall  has  openings  filled  with  ponderous  gates, 
each  gateway  being  surmounted  by  a  tower.  The 
vast  structure  has  cost  millions  of  dollars  in  con- 
struction, and  other  millions  in  maintenance. 

The  original  idol  of  Vishnu  is  supposed  to  be 
immovable,  but  another  image  has  been  con- 
structed and  consecrated.  On  festal  days  it  is 
placed  in  an  enormous  car,  one  of  which  is  con- 
nected with  every  Vaishnava  temple,  and  is 
dragged  through  the  streets  by  thousands  of  men. 
The  jewelry  and  decorations  of  even  this  secondary 
figure  have  cost  a  fabulous  amount  of  money. 
The  great  idol  crown  alone  is  estimated  at  80,000 
rupees,  while  the  breastplate,  necklace,  and  other 
ornaments  are  worth  as  much  more. 


78  Hinduism 

Demons  and  Devils.  These  terms  are  by  no 
means  interchangeable,  as  many  demons  are  more 
or  less  friendly  to  humanity,  while  devils  are 
always  malicious.  There  are  legions  of  them — 
lying  devils,  gambling  devils,  thieving  devils,  and 
so  on  through  the  list  of  evil  spirits  which  lie  in 
wait  for  the  weak-minded  and  thoughtless  in 
order  to  induce  them  to  commit  crimes.  In  the 
south  of  India,  demonophobia  is  especially  preva- 
lent. Every  village  has  its  own  especial  evil 
spirits  and  people  are  always  exposed  to  their 
attacks.  Fortunately,  however,  each  community 
has  also  its  own  tutelary  divinities,  but  these  must 
be  propitiated  for  their  good  offices,  while  the 
devils  must  be  placated  as  far  as  possible  by  offer- 
ings and  oblations.  The  ceremonies  of  these  wor- 
shippers are  very  long  and  tedious,  as  well  as 
expensive.  Various  forms  of  devil  worship  are, 
appropriately  enough,  associated  with  that  of 
Shiva,  his  consort  Kali,  and  their  two  sons. 
Among  the  demons  also  there  are  some  who  are 
greatly  feared,  one  of  them  being  called  Kanara; 
this  is  a  terrible  pig-faced  goblin  who  was  created, 
it  is  said,  by  the  curse  of  Shiva  when  he  denounced 
some  young  pigs  that  devastated  his  garden,  and 
they  were  thereupon  collectively  transformed  into 
a  single  malicious  demon.  A  goodly  revenue  is 


Modern  Hinduism  79 

derived  by  the  priesthood  from  the  sale  of  devil 
stones,  which  are  taken  home  and  used  as  talis- 
mans against  evil  spirits. 

Hanuman,  the  Monkey  God.  Not  only  are  the 
temples  of  Shiva  and  Vishnu  crowded  with  idols, 
but  even  the  heroes  of  the  great  epics  receive  their 
full  share  of  offerings.  One  of  the  most  popular 
of  these  is  the  monkey  ally  of  Rama  in  the  story 
of  the  Rama-yana.  He  was  called  the  son  of  the 
wind  and  could  assume  any  form  at  pleasure.  He 
could  tear  up  great  trees  by  the  roots  or  even  lift 
mountains  from  their  foundations  and  carry  them 
through  the  air,  or  handle  those  which  the  other 
monkeys  in  Rama's  army  brought  to  him  to  build 
the  wonderful  bridge  at  Ceylon  upon  which 
Rama's  troops  crossed  over  to  the  other  side.  He 
it  was,  also,  who  made  a  complete  reconnoissance  of 
the  enemy's  stronghold  by  assuming  the  form  of  a 
cat,  and  finally  in  his  own  form  of  a  monkey  de- 
stroyed the  orchards  and  burned  the  palaces  of  the 
foe. '  He  will  always  be  a  popular  figure  in  Indian 
mythology  and  his  images  are  covered  with  red 
paint — the  sacred  vermilion;  they  are  numerous 
in  many  localities. 

In  the  great  temple  just  outside  of  the  town  of 

1  Reed's  Hindu  Literature,  pp.  161-271. 


8o  Hinduism 

Kaira,  which  is  devoted  to  the  worship  of  Hanu- 
man,  offerings  of  oil  are  constantly  presented  to  the 
god.  Within  his  enclosure,  are  shrines  to  both 
Rama  and  Krishna,  but  they  occupy  only  subor- 
dinate positions.  There  is  also  a  shrine  to  the 
goddess  of  smallpox,  and  around  it  a  cloister 
which  is  used  as  a  lodging-place  for  travellers. 
Not  only  are  divine  honours  paid  to  Hanuman,  but 
all  his  kith  and  kin  of  the  monkey  tribe  are  held 
sacred,  and  they  are  everywhere  undisturbed. 
They  make  havoc  with  the  clothing  of  visitors, 
and  keep  the  temples  filthy;  they  sometimes  tear 
off  the  roofs  of  the  native  houses,  apparently  merely 
for  amusement,  but  no  owner  would  dare  drive 
them  away,  whatever  damages  they  might  do  upon 
the  premises. 

Serpent  Worship.  Among  reptiles  the  snake  is 
the  most  sacred,  and  his  immunity  from  injury 
costs  the  people  much  loss  and  suffering.  During 
1904,  nearly  ten  thousand  head  of  cattle  (9994) 
were  killed  by  snake  bite,  and  the  habit  of  walk- 
ing barefoot  makes  the  number  of  human  vic- 
tims unnecessarily  large.  During  the  same  year 
21,827  men,  women,  and  children  died  in  agony  in 
consequence  of  the  attacks  of  these  deified 
reptiles.  These  are  official  figures,  and  of  course 


Modern  Hinduism  81 

not  nearly  all  of  the  cases  were  reported  to  the 
King's  officers.  Good  authorities  estimate  the 
total  deaths  from  snake  bite  in  India  at  25,000 
annually  and  some  claim  the  number  will  reach 
40,000. 

Mr.  Walhouse  says: 

One  of  the  highest  mountains  in  the  South  Kanara 
Ghats  has  'a  celebrated  serpent  temple  where  great 
numbers  of  the  'coiling  folk'  reside  in  holes  and 
crevices  which  have  been  made  for  them. 

To  propitiate  these  creatures,  people  who  have 
made  vows  roll  along  serpent  fashion,  and  some  will 
even  roll  their  bodies  up  to  the  temple  from  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  half  a  mile  distant.  They  also  take  home  with 
them  portions  of  earth  from  the  sacred  serpent  holes; 
this  is  believed  to  cure  leprosy  if  rubbed  on  the  parts 
affected;  it  will  also  cure  barrenness  if  a  little  be  put 
into  the  mouth  daily.  Serpentine  body  wriggling  is 
also  practised  farther  south  where  small  snake  tem- 
ples are  common.  * 

In  Southern  India  it  is  a  fixed  article  of  faith  that 
all  who  have  killed  a  snake,  especially  a  cobra,  will, 
either  in  this  life  or  the  next,  be  punished  with 
leprosy,  barrenness,  or  ophthalmia.  Therefore  it 
behooves  all  who  are  thus  afflicted  in  this  life  to 
visit  snake  shrines  and  conciliate  the  serpent  gods. 

There    is    one    festival    in    which    women — 

1  Walhouse,  Ind.  Ant.  vol.  vii.,  Feb. 
6 


82  Hinduism 

"Wives  of  the  Snake " — go  round  begging  for  the 
Brahmans,  and  in  a  Bengal  festival  the  men  march 
entwined  with  serpents,  while  the  chief  man  has  a 
roc-boa  round  his  neck,  and  is  carried,  or  rides 
upon  a  buffalo. f 

Other  Sacred  Animals.  Especial  reverence  is 
also  accorded  to  many  other  animals  for  various 
reasons.  While  serpents  are  associated  with  both 
Shiva  and  Vishnu,  Brahma  is  attended  by  a  goose 
or  swan,  while  the  elephant  belongs  to  Indra. 
Yama  rides  a  buffalo  and  Agni  a  ram.  Kama- 
deva,  the  god  of  love,  is  attended  by  a  parrot, 
Ganesa  by  a  rat,  and  Varuna  by  a  fish.  All  of 
these  therefore  are  entitled  to  especial  consider- 
ation. But  the  most  sacred  of  all  animals  are 
those  of  the  cattle  kind  and  especially  the  cow. 
Each  portion  of  her  body  is  inhabited  by  some 
deity  and  every  hair  is  inviolable.  A  Brahman 
told  a  story  of  a  celebrated  saint  who  was  com- 
pelled to  commit  suicide  by  drowning  as  a  penalty 
for  accidentally  swallowing  the  hair  of  a  cow  while 
drinking  her  milk.  And  even  this  punishment  was 
not  sufficient  as  he  was  obliged  afterward  to  un- 
dergo the  penalty  of  being  born  a  Mohammedan. 

1  James  Fergusson,  Tree  and  Serpent  Worship,  p.  257.  See 
also  Shakti  Ceremonies  in  India,  p.  558  seq. 


Modern  Hinduism  83 

President  Barrows  of  Oberlin  College  said  that  he 
had  seen  the  natives  crawling  on  their  hands  and 
knees  through  the  filth  of  the  barnyard  in  order  to 
approach  a  cow  with  proper  humility,  and  then 
kiss  her  tail!  All  excreta  from  a  cow  is  hallowed, 
and  the  ground  which  it  touches  is  a  consecrated 
spot,  while  the  urine  is  the  most  effective  of  all 
holy  waters  and  cleanses  all  who  partake  of  it. 

The  Code  of  Manu,  the  great  judicial  authority, 
from  the  decrees  of  which  there  is  no  appeal,  says : 

Eating  for  one  day  of  the  excrement  and  urine  of  a 
cow  mixed  with  milk,  curds,  and  clarified  butter,  and 
water  boiled  with  Kusa  grass,  and  fasting  for  a  day 
and  a  night,  is  the  penance  called  Santapana. x 

The  panca-gavya  penance  consists  in  swallow- 
ing the  five  products  of  the  cow  as  given  above, 
without  fasting,  or  the  Kusa  grass  solution. 
This  is  declared  to  be  "a  sufficient  atonement  for 
having  stolen  food,  a  carriage,  bed,  chair,  roots, 
flowers,  or  fruits. " 2  This  is  said  to  be  the  penance 
which  Vivekananda  had  to  undergo  on  his  return 
to  India,  after  feasting  luxuriously  on  American 
beef.  Of  course  the  killing  of  a  cow  is  criminal, 
and  Manu  decrees  that  "the  guilty  man  shall 
make  atonement  by  attending  upon  a  herd  of 
cattle,  guarding  them  from  all  injury,  following 

1  Manu,  bk.  xi.,  212.  *  Bk   xi.,  165. 


84  Hinduism 

them  night  and  day  in  all  weathers  for  three 
months,  and  swallowing  the  dust  which  is  raised 
by  their  feet."1  Images  of  cows  are  sold  in  the 
bazars  and  bought  as  objects  of  reverence.  The 
letting  loose  of  a  bull  properly  stamped  with 
the  symbol  of  Shiva,  in  sacred  cities,  like  Gaya 
and  Benares,  so  that  the  stray  animal  may  be 
tended  and  fed  by  the  populace,  is  a  highly  meri- 
torious act. 

Deified  Trees  and  Plants.  Not  only  animals, 
but  many  trees  and  plants  are  supposed  to  be 
permeated  with  divinity.  Perhaps  the  tulasi, 
or  holy  basil  is  the  most  revered.  It  is  sacred  to 
Vishnu  and  prayers  are  often  offered  to  it,  as  if 
it  were  itself  a  goddess.  Women  perform  many 
"meritorious  acts"  by  walking  around  this  shrub, 
which  is  carefully  cultivated.  As  animals,  espe- 
cially monkeys,  are  sometimes  made  to  go  through 
the  marriage  ceremony,  so  also  the  wedding  of  the 
tulasi  to  the  idol  of  Krishna  takes  place  once 
every  year,  in  the  month  Kartik,  in  nearly  every 
Hindu  family.  The  bilva  (&gle  marmelos), 
sometimes  called  the  wood  apple,  is  dedicated  to 
Shiva,  its  triple  leaves  being  constantly  placed 
upon  his  symbol.  The  banyan  tree,  which  mul- 

"Manu,  bk.  xi.,  108-115. 


Modern  Hinduism  85 

tiplies  itself  by  sending  its  branches  downward,  is 
sacred  to  Kala,  or  Time;  this  and  the  pipal,  or 
pipalla,  are  supposed  to  represent  immortality. 
The  pipal  (Ficus  religiosa),  sometimes  called  the 
bo-tree  is  the  one  under  which  Buddha  finally  at- 
tained to  that  state  of  mind  called  "perfect  en- 
lightenment." And  this  is  regarded  with  especial 
sanctity  by  his  followers.  Tradition  says  that 
Gautama  once  directed  Ananda  to  break  off  a 
branch  of  the  tree  under  which  he  attained  to 
Buddhahood,  and  plant  it  in  the  garden.  "He 
who  worships  it,"  said  Gautama,  "will  receive  the 
same  reward  as  if  he  worshipped  me. "  Whether 
this  be  true  or  not,  the  Brahmans  insist  that  he 
struggled  hard  to  be  worshipped  as  a  god.  They 
say:  "He  put  an  end  to  the  old  dynasty  of  kings, 
not  for  giving  liberty  to  the  people,  but  only  to 
step  into  the  throne  himself,  under  a  new  name. " r 
This  tree  must  however  have  been  highly  rever- 
enced in  India  before  Buddha's  time  for  it  was 
regarded  as  being  occupied  by  Brahma,  and  it  is 
now  sometimes  invested  with  the  sacred  thread 
as  if  it  were  a  real  person.  All  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Upanayana  are  then  performed  over  it. 
The  pipal  is  necessarily  banished  from  the  business 
districts  however,  as  the  Hindu  is  afraid  to  tell  a 
'  Bhatt.,  p.  543. 


86  Hinduism 

lie  under  the  shade  of  its  branches.  The  arka 
plant  is  sacred  to  Surya,  the  sun,  and  the  shami, 
or  acacia  is  a  goddess  on  her  own  account,  and 
is  supposed  to  contain  fire.  The  superstition 
regarding  trees  has  a  wonderfully  good  effect 
upon  the  forestry  of  the  country,  because  the 
natives  are  not  only  afraid  to  destroy  any  of 
the  sacred  trees  or  shrubs,  but  the  planting 
of  others  adds  greatly  to  the  " merit"  of  the  indi- 
vidual thus  occupied. 

Position  of  Widows.  Even  under  the  best  cir- 
cumstances we  cannot  expect  the  position  of  wo- 
man to  be  a  very  exalted  one,  in  a  country  where 
the  wife  is  declared  to  be  "the  marital  property1' 
of  her  husband  and  is  therefore  classed  with 
"female  camels,  slave  girls,  she  goats,  and  ewes.*'1 

Marriages  being  concluded  in  many  cases  without 
the  consent  of  either  party,  there  is  little  chance 
for  conjugal  affection,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  a  wife  may  sometimes  be  found  who  has  little 
cause  for  complaint,  except  in  the  absence  of  free- 
dom of  thought  and  action;  and  she  scarcely 
misses  these,  having  been  always  accustomed  to  a 
condition  of  bondage.  But  however  comfortable 
she  may  have  been  during  her  married  life,  every- 

1  See  Manu,  bk.  iv.,  48-51. 


Modern  Hinduism  87 

thing  is  changed  in  case  she  happens  to  survive 
her  husband.  It  is  understood  that  her  widow- 
hood is  the  penalty  visited  upon  her  for  some  fear- 
ful crime  which  she  committed  in  a  former  birth, 
and  her  so-called  friends  consider  it  their  duty  to 
add  what  they  can  to  her  sufferings. 

There  is  hardly  a  class  of  living  beings  whose 
wretched  condition  appeals  more  strongly  to  the 
humane  man  or  woman  than  the  widows  of  India. 
Very  few  people  in  Europe  or  America  have  even 
the  remotest  idea  of  the  miseries  which  the  Hindu 
woman  must  endure  after  the  death  of  her  husband. 
Manu,  the  great  lawgiver  whose  rules  are  inviola- 
ble, enjoins  the  following  duties  upon  her:  "Let 
her  emaciate  her  body  by  living  voluntarily  upon 
pure  flowers,  and  fruits,  but  let  her  not,  when  her 
lord  is  dead,  even  pronounce  the  name  of  another 
man . " I  Perhaps  even  Manu  would  have  hesitated 
about  making  such  a  decree  had  he  known  it 
would  be  the  source  of  such  indescribable  suf- 
fering to  millions  of  human  beings.  Devendra 
N.  Das,  an  accomplished  native  scholar,  writes 
on  this  subject  as  follows : 

The  widow  who  has  no  parents  has  to  pass  her  whole 
life  under  the  roof  of  her  father-in-law,  and  then  she 
knows  no  comfort  whatever.  She  has  to  meet  from 

1  Manu,  bk.  v.,  767. 


88  Hinduism 

her  late  husband's  relations  only  unkind  looks  and 
unjust  reproaches.  She  has  to  work  like  a  slave,  and 
for  the  reward  of  all  her  drudgery,  she  receives  only 
hatred  and  abhorrence  from  her  mother-in-law  and 
her  sisters-in-law.  If  there  is  disorder  in  the  domestic 
arrangements  of  the  family,  the  widow  is  blamed  and 
cursed  for  it.  .  .  .  Even  death  cannot  save  a 
widow  from  indignities,  for  when  a  wife  dies,  she  is 
burned  in  the  clothes  she  had  on,  but  a  widow's 
corpse  is  covered  with  a  coarse  white  cloth,  and  there 
is  little  ceremony  at  her  funeral .... 

"The  English  have  abolished  Sati  [suttee]  but  alas! 
neither  the  English  nor  the  angels  know  what  goes  on 
in  our  houses,  and  the  Hindus  not  only  do  not  care, 
but  think  it  good!" 

Such  were  the  words  of  a  widow,  and  well  she  might 
exclaim  "neither  the  English  nor  the  angels  know,'' 
for  Hindu  as  I  am,  I  can  vouch  for  her  statement  that 
very  few  Hindus  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  actual 
sufferings  of  the  widows  among  them,  and  fewer  still 
care  to  know  of  the  evils  and  horrors  of  the  barbarous 
custom  which  victimises  their  own  sisters  and  daughters 
in  so  ruthless  a  manner;  nay,  on  the  contrary,  the 
majority  of  orthodox  Hindus  consider  the  practice 
good  and  salutary. x 

Pandita  Ramabai.  This  brave  woman  is  still 
striving  to  take  care  of  her  large  family  of  child- 
widows,  and  she  pathetically  laments  the  enforced 
and  constant  humiliation  of  the  womanhood  of  her 

1  Devendra  N.  Das,  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  xx.,  pp.  364- 
373- 


Modern  Hinduism  89 

country.  She  claims  that  the  Aryan  Hindus  did 
indeed  honour  women  and  quotes  some  of  the 
early  precepts  of  the  infallible  Code  in  support  of 
her  position.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  compilation  of  the  Code  of  Manu  has  covered 
many  years,  and  it  would  appear  that  this  is  the 
only  explanation  of  the  contradictory  decrees  and 
declarations  there  found  concerning  the  treatment 
to  be  accorded  to  woman. 
For  instance  Manu  declares : 

Women  must  be  honoured  and  adorned  by  their 
fathers,  brothers,  husbands,  and  brothers-in-law,  who 
desire  their  own  welfare.  Where  women  are  honoured 
the  gods  are  pleased,  but  where  they  are  not  honoured, 
no  sacred  rite  yields  reward.  * 

But  elsewhere  and  in  a  later  volume  it  is  said : 

Though  destitute  of  virtue,  or  seeking  pleasure  else- 
where, or  devoid  of  good  qualities,  yet  a  husband  must 
be  constantly  worshipped  as  a  god  by  a  faithful  wife.2 

This  and  many  other  decrees  of  a  similar  nature 
made  this  educated  Hindu  woman  say: 

Those  who  diligently  and  impartially  read  Sanskrit 
literature  in  the  original  cannot  fail  to  recognise  the 
lawgiver  Manu  as  one  of  those  hundreds  who  have 
done  their  best  to  make  woman  a  hateful  being  in 
the  world's  eye ....  She  is  forbidden  to  read  the 

1  Manu,  bk.  iii.,  55-56.  a  Manu,  bk.  ix.,  154. 


90  Hinduism 

(Hindu)  sacred  scriptures,  she  has  no  right  to  pro- 
nounce a  single  syllable  out  of  them.  .  .  .  She, 
the  loving  mother  of  the  nation,  the  devoted  wife, 
the  tender  sister  and  affectionate  daughter,  is  never 
fit  for  independence,  and  is  "as  impure  as  falsehood 
itself."  I  can  say,  honestly  and  truthfully,  that 
I  have  never  read  any  sacred  book  in  Sanskrit  litera- 
ture, without  meeting  this  kind  of  hateful  sentiment 
about  women.  True  they  contain,  here  and  there, 
a  kind  word  about  them,  but  such  words  seem  to  me 
a  heartless  mockery  after  having  charged  them,  as  a 
class,  with  crime  and  evil  deeds.  Profane  literature 
is  by  no  means  less  severe  or  more  respectful  towards 
women. z 

Pandita  is  anxious  to  come  to  the  United  States 
again,  and  raise  her  voice  against  the  deceptions 
which  are  being  practised  here  by  the  Hindu 
priests.  In  a  letter  intended  for  publication  she 
says: 

What  has  shocked  me  most  has  been  the  report  that 
there  are  women  in  America  who  are  confessedly 
studying  and  adopting  the  philosophy  of  the  Hindus. 

As  I  was  born  and  educated  in  this  philosophy, 
having  taken  my  degree  of  Pandita  in  it,  I  am  ac- 
quainted with  both  its  literature,  and  its  influence  on 
my  people,  and  I  want  to  bear  witness  against  its 
degradation ....  It  is  all  very  nice  to  read  pretty 
translations  where  much  that  is  degrading  has  been 
expurgated,  but  the  original  is  quite  another  thing. 

1  Pandita  Ramabai,  High  Caste  Hindu  Woman,  pp.  81-82. 


Modern  Hinduism  91 

Not  only  this,  but  she  calls  attention  to  the  en- 
forced position  of  woman  under  the  influence  of 
such  teaching.  She  says  of  the  Hindu  woman : 

After  rising  early  and  attending  to  the  cares  of  her 
house,  her  next  duty  is  to  put  her  head  on  the  sacred 
feet  of  her  husband  and  worship  him.  .  .  .  The 
philosophy  of  India  teaches  that  there  are  five  sinless 
lies,  and  among  them  are  the  lies  told  to  women.  If 
American  women  think  they  would  like  such  phi- 
losophy, India  is  the  best  place  for  the  study  of  the 
results  of  Hinduism. 


CHAPTER  V 

PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

Vaishnavism.     Ten  Incarnations.     Bala-Rama.     Krishna  Vasu- 
deva.     Wives  of  Krishna.     Death  of  the  God. 

A  S  the  followers  of  Shiva  centralised  their  creed 
•**  into  a  system  known  as  Shaivism,  so  also 
the  doctrine  of  the  later  sect  is  called  Vaishna- 
vism. These  schools  were  stimulated  into  activ- 
ity by  the  Brahmans,  who  needed  new  forces  in 
order  to  conquer  Buddhism.  During  the  Middle 
Ages  when  the  Puranas  were  written  there  was 
fierce  rivalry  between  the  adherents  of  Shiva  and 
Vishnu;  now,  however,  it  is  asserted  that  any 
one  can  be  a  worshipper  of  either  without  ignoring 
the  other,  and  hence  they  dwell  together  in  com- 
parative peace. 

Vaishnavism  is  sometimes  a  form  of  monotheism 
with  Vishnu  as  supreme,  especially  as  he  is  re- 
presented in  the  later  incarnations  of  Rama  and 
Krishna.  But  like  other  forms  of  Hinduism  it  is 
most  elastic  in  its  ideas,  being  quite  capable  of 

92 


Present  Conditions  93 

adaptation  to  almost  any  other  creed  when  it 
seems  politic  to  do  so.  It  has  no  formal  confession 
of  faith,  but  it  has  a  series  of  eighteen  Puranas, 
some  of  which  extol  one  god,  and  some  another, 
and  each  of  these  books  may  be  used  as  an  authority 
for  almost  any  one  of  their  theories. 

The  later  system  includes  Brahmanism  by 
claiming:  "There  is  one  Being  and  no  second/' 
and  also  their  oft -repeated  assertion  that  there  are 
many  deities,  or  many  forms  of  one.  Like  Shaiv- 
ism  it  enjoins  asceticism  and  austerities,  even  while 
like  Shaktism  or  Tantrism  it  gives  unbridled  rein 
to  self-indulgence.  Like  Buddhism  it  preaches 
liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  especially  endors- 
ing the  humane  treatment  of  all  animals  and 
reptiles,  on  the  ground  that  either  of  them  may  be 
a  new  form  which  is  being  worn  by  a  dead  priest, 
or  a  departed  relative.  Like  Buddhism,  too,  it 
fails  to  include  in  its  humane  category  the  women 
and  children  of  India. 

Vaishnavism  even  looks  upon  Christianity  with 
some  degree  of  condescension  while  winning  Anglo- 
Saxon  funds — sometimes  claiming  that  it  is  a 
development  of  their  own  religion  which  is  suited 
to  Europeans  and  Americans!  Their  halls  in 
the  United  States  are  decorated  with  mottoes 
indicating  that  Christianity  and  Vaishnavism 


94  Hinduism 

are  virtually  one  and  the  same  thing!  We  have 
a  Vishnu  in  the  early  songs,  but  there  he  is  merely 
a  secondary  representation  of  solar  energy.  The 
Hindus  themselves  admit  that  Vishnu  as  a  deity 
is  a  comparatively  modern  creation,  although 
Prof.  Bhandarkar,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Bombay 
University,  claims:  "The  ten  Incarnations  of 
Vishnu  had  become  quite  an  ordinary  article  of 
belief  in  A. D.  1014,  and  Buddha  had  been  admitted 
into  the  popular  pantheon.*'1  It  was  centuries 
later  than  this,  however,  before  the  Vishnu  Pu- 
rana  was  written,  according  to  the  best  Ori- 
ental scholars. 

Ten  Incarnations.  The  idea  of  this  divinity  was 
expanded  and  spread  into  various  ramifications. 
He  is  represented  as  having  undergone  nine  differ- 
ent avatars,  or  descents,  and  is  expected  to  undergo 
the  tenth  in  future.  In  the  Bhagavata-purana, 
these  are  multiplied  into  twenty-two,  while  in 
some  of  the  others  there  are  twenty-four  or  even 
twenty-eight,  but  the  number  commonly  received 
is  the  original  ten. 

Bhagwanlal  R.  Badshah  admits:  "This  doc- 
trine may  have  been  originally  started  to  check 

1  Prof.  Bhandarkar,  Trans.  Ninth  Internal.  Congress  of  Orien- 
talists, vol.  i.,  p.  426. 


Present  Conditions  95 

the  progress  of  Buddhism,  and  to  reorganise 
Brahmanism. " '  It  is  true  there  were  older 
legends  of  the  fish  and  some  other  forms  in  the 
combination,  but  all  scholars,  both  Hindu  and 
Anglo-Saxon,  admit  that  the  ten  incarnations  were 
not  developed  until  the  Puranic  period,  and  they 
were  then  as  now  in  the  following  order : 

(1)  Matsya,  the  Fish.     In  this  shape,  Vishnu 
saved   Manu   from   the   deluge.     This  legend  is 
found  in  several  of  the  sacred  books  and  will  be 
considered  later. 

(2)  Kurma,  the  Tortoise.     In  this  form  Vishnu 
went   down  into  the  ocean  to  recover  the  lost 
nectar  of  the  gods,  and  other  valuables  which  had 
been  lost  in  the  flood.     In  this  beautiful  legend 
the  gods  are  represented  as  having  been  conquered 
in  battle  by  demons,  and  robbed  of  their  strength, 
whereupon  Vishnu  gave  orders  to  have  the  ocean 
churned  into  a  nectar  for  the  gods,  declaring  that 
this  would  restore  their  power  and  enable  them  to 
destroy  their  enemies.     The  gods  were  therefore 
ordered  to  collect  all  plants  and  herbs,  and  cast 
them  into  the  sea,  taking  the  mountain  Mandara 
for  a  churning  stick,  and  Vasuki  the  serpent  for  a 
rope,  while  Vishnu  himself  in  the  form  of  a  colossal 
tortoise  became  a  resting  place  for  the  mountain. 

1  Badshah,  Ninth  Internal.  Cong,  of  Orientalists,  vol.  i.,  p.  134. 


96  Hinduism 

Then  they  churned  the  ocean  until  they  produced 
the  ambrosial  food  of  immortality. 

(3)  Varaha,  the  Boar.     Vishnu  descended  in  the 
shape  of  an  enormous  boar  to  deliver  the  world 
from  the  power  of  the  golden-eyed  demon.     The 
Vishnu-purana  describes  this  animal  as  being  one 
thousand  yojanas,  or  forty-five  hundred  miles,  in 
height,  and  ten  yojanas,  or  forty-five  miles,  in 
breadth. 

He  had  the  colour  of  a  dark  cloud ;  his  roar  was  like 
thunder;  his  bulk,  vast  as  a  mountain;  his  tusks  white, 
sharp,  and  fearful.  Fire  flashed  from  his  eyes  like 
lightning,  and  he  was  radiant  as  the  sun.  His 
shoulders  were  round,  fat,  and  large,  and  he  strode 
along  like  a  powerful  lion.1 

Only  a  few  years  since  one  of  the  finest  literary 
men  in  India  began  a  paper  with  an  invocation 
to  "The  Heavenly  Boar!"  Scholars  have  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  first  three  incarna- 
tions of  Vishnu  were  all  connected  with  the  tradi- 
tion of  a  universal  deluge. 

(4)  Nara-Sinha,  the  Man-Lion.     This  was  the 
form  chosen  by  Vishnu  in  which  to  deliver  the 
world  from  the  tyranny  of  an  evil  spirit  who  had 
obtained  from  Brahma  a  promise  that  he  should 
not  be  slain  either  by  a  god,  a  man,  or  an  animal. 

1  Vishnu-purana,  Wilson's  trans.,  p.  31. 


Present  Conditions  97 

(5)  Vamana,  the  Dwarf.     This  character  was  as- 
sumed to  deprive  the  demon  Bali  of  the  dominion 
of  the  three  worlds.     Vishnu  presented  himself 
as  a  very  diminutive  man,  and  solicited  as  much 
land  as  he  could  step  over  in  three  paces.     When 
this  request  was  granted  he  strode  over  heaven, 
and  earth,  but  in  compassion  to  the  demon  he  left 
hell  in  his  possession. 

(6)  Parsu-Rama,  or  Bala-Rama.    Rama  with  the 
axe.     In  this  character,  Vishnu  is  said  to  have 
cleared  the  earth  of  the  military  class  twenty- 
one  times. 

(7)  Rama-Chandra.     This  was  the  hero  of  the 
beautiful  story  of  the  Ramayana,  one  of  the  two 
great  Hindu  epics.     This  colossal  poem  is  so  sa- 
cred that 

Whoever  reads  or  hears  the  Ramayana  will  be  freed 
from  all  sin.  Those  who  read  or  hear  it  for  the  sake 
of  riches  will  certainly  acquire  wealth.  .  .  .  The 
Ramayana  heals  diseases,  removes  all  fear  of  enemies, 
compensates  for  the  loss  of  wealth  or  fame,  prevents 
loss  of  life,  and  secures  all  that  is  desired. 

(8)  Krishna — the    Dark    God.     The    younger 
brother    of  Bala-Rama,    the    strong   Rama,  has 
sometimes  been  called  the  eighth  avatar  instead 
of  Krishna,  but  in  later  times  the  younger  brother 
appears  to  have  supplanted  him. 

7 


98  Hinduism 

(9)  Buddha.     According    to    the    Brahmans, 
Vishnu  assumed  this  form  to  delude  the  demons 
into  neglecting  the  worship  of  the  gods  and  thus 
expose  themselves  to  punishment. 

(10)  Kalki  or  Kalkin.     This  is  the  future  mani- 
festation when  the  god  will  come  forth  on  a  white 
horse  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  for  the 
final  destruction  of  the  world.     This  last  picture 
from  the  Vishnu-purana  may  have  been  drawn 
from  the  book  of  Revelation. J 

In  his  paper  before  the  Congress  of  Orientalists 
held  in  London,  B.  R.  Badshah  claims  that  this 
incarnation  represents  the  British  Government. 
He  says: 

This  prophecy  has  now  already  been  fulfilled.  This 
age  of  art  and  inventions  has  reference  to  the  British 
rule  in  India.  Kalki  is  described  as  riding  a  white 
horse:  a  white  horse  means  a  white-skinned  race.  .  .  . 
There  are  grounds  for  this  exposition,  as  the  people  of 
India  twenty  years  ago  were  speaking  of  the  British 
Government  as  a  Rama-raja,  that  is  a  godly  govern- 
ment. As  deifications  are  comparisons,  this  com- 
parison will  soon  be  sanctioned  universally  as  a 
deification. 2 

Rama.  The  gallant  hero  of  the  Ramayana  who 
was  the  seventh  avatar  of  Vishnu  was  given  the 

1  Rev.  xix.,  11-16.  2  Trans.,  vol.  i  p.  139. 


Present  Conditions  99 

additional  name  of  Chandra  when  he  was  placed 
among  the  incarnations. 

The  ten-headed  demon  Ravanna  had  secured  a 
promise  from  Brahma  that  he  should  not  be  slain 
by  either  gods,  demons,  or  genii.  This  assur- 
ance had  been  gained  by  long  austerities  on  the 
part  of  the  demon,  who  had  stood  upon  his  head 
in  the  midst  of  five  fires  for  ten  thousand 
years.  After  obtaining  the  coveted  promise,  his 
conduct  became  so  outrageous  that  the  other 
gods  came  to  Vishnu  praying  that  he  might  de- 
liver them  from  this  mighty  power  for  evil.  The 
great  Vishnu  was  gracious  to  his  noble  petitioners 
and  answered: 

Be  no  longer  alarmed:  your  foe  shall  fall  at  my  feet. 
Ravanna  in  his  pride  of  power  did  not  ask  Brahma 
to  preserve  him  from  men  or  monkeys,  for  he  deemed 
them  beneath  his  notice.  But  I  will  take  advantage 
of  this  omission  and  cause  his  destruction  by  the  very 
means  which  he  despises.  I  will  myself  be  born  as 
Rama,  you  shall  assist  me  by  assuming  the  form  of 
monkeys,  and  together  we  will  overthrow  this  terrible 
enemy  of  gods  and  men. 

Afterward,  Ravanna  carried  off  by  force  Sita,  the 
lovely  bride  of  the  banished  prince,  and  was 
followed  long  by  the  frantic  husband,  before  he 
met  with  a  host  of  monkeys  under  the  leadership 
of  Hanuman.  Making  an  alliance  with  the 


ioo  Hinduism 

quadrumana,  he  continued  the  pursuit  until  the 
enemy  was  overtaken  in  his  own  city,  which  was 
conquered  and  burned,  the  demon  slain,  and  the 
lovely  bride  restored  to  her  victorious  husband, 
who  carried  her  back  to  his  recovered  kingdom  and 
throne. x 

This  incarnation  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
among  the  many  objects  of  Vishnu  worship.  The 
mere  utterance  of  the  name  of  Rama  is  equal  in 
religious  merit  to  the  giving  of  a  hundred  orna- 
mented cows  to  a  Brahman,  or  the  performance 
of  an  Ashva-medha,  besides  being  much  cheaper 
than  either. 

A  follower  of  Rama  enjoys  happiness  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  next  is  absorbed  into  Rama  in 
the  heaven  of  Vishnu.  His  devotees  will  still 
sit  for  days  and  nights  together,  upon  the  bank  of 
the  sacred  Ganges,  or  beneath  the  stately  pipal 
trees,  repeating  in  low  monotonous  tones:  "Ram, 
Ram,  Rama."  The  mere  utterance  of  the  words, 
without  any  conception  of  their  meaning,  will 
secure  a  birth  into  a  higher  life,  and  if  a  bird  or 
an  animal  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  overhear 
the  tones,  they  too  will  speedily  be  born  into  a 
more  joyful  state  of  existence. 

Every  year  the  Ramlila  festival,  held  in  many 

'Reed's  Hindu  Literature  pp.  153-271 


Present  'Conditions  101 

places,  commemorates  Rama's  adventures.  The 
great  poem  has  been  set  to  music  and  is  sung  with 
much  enthusiasm.  In  Benares  the  Maharaja 
celebrates  the  annual  festival  with  great  pomp. 
In  Delhi,  more  than  eighty-five  thousand  people 
according  to  native  authorities  accompany  the 
procession  as  it  passes  through  the  principal  bazars 
at  night. 

Bala-Rama.  It  is  claimed  by  followers  of  Krishna 
that  this  older  brother  is  an  incarnation  of  the 
thousand-headed  serpent  Shesha  who  supports 
the  earth  upon  his  numerous  heads,  and  earth- 
quakes are  caused  by  the  movement  of  some 
one  of  them.  He  is  sometimes  called  the  Indian 
Hercules  because  he  wields  a  ponderous  club 
besides  a  ploughshare.  The  two  brothers  be- 
longed to  the  tribe  of  Yadavas,  who  were  cowherds 
and  made  their  living  from  cattle  by  driving  them 
from  one  locality  to  another,  selling  milk,  butter, 
and  curds.  While  they  were  yet  children,  their 
tribe  came  near  a  grove  of  palm  trees  where  lived 
a  terrible  demon  by  the  name  of  Dehunuka. 

The  lads  were  attracted  by  the  sight  of  ripe 
fruit  on  the  trees  and  wandered  near  the  spot  where 
the  demon  was  feasting  on  the  flesh  of  a  deer,  but 
all  unconscious  of  his  presence  they  shook  the 


102  Hinduism 

tree  and  brought  down  some  fruit.  Hearing  the 
noise  the  malignant  fiend  left  his  feast,  and  assum- 
ing the  form  of  a  wild  ass,  he  rushed  upon  the 
intruders  and  gave  the  older  boy  a  terrific  kick 
in  the  breast;  undaunted  by  the  blow,  however, 
the  powerful  Bala-Rama  seized  his  foe  by  the  heels, 
and  swung  him  around  until  he  was  dead,  then 
tossed  him  into  the  top  of  a  large  palm  tree,  thus 
shaking  off  great  quantities  of  fruit. 

The  other  demons  in  the  grove  assumed  the 
same  form  and  rushed  upon  the  boys,  to  avenge 
the  death  of  their  leader.  But  Bala-Rama  with  the 
help  of  Krishna  treated  them  all  in  the  same  way, 
and  when  they  were  through,  the  trees  were  laden 
with  wild  asses  and  the  ground  was  covered  with 
fruit  on  which  the  cowherds  feasted  for  many  a  day. l 

Krishna  Vasudeva.  The  son  of  Vasudeva  who 
was  the  eighth  child  of  the  wife  Devaki  is  the 
famous  deity  who  was  finally  given  a  place  as  the 
eighth  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  although  he  belongs 
to  a  later  period  than  the  early  avatars;  the  Hin- 
dus themselves  claim  that  he  appeared  in  the  end 
of  the  third  age  of  the  world.  The  name  means 
"black/*  or  "  dark  coloured, "  and  is  so  common  in 

1  Vishnu- purana,  Wilson's  Trans.,  p.  517.  The  story  is  told 
in  much  the  same  way  in  some  of  the  other  Puranas. 


Present  Conditions  103 

India  that  it  would  appear  to  be  given  to  every 
child  who  is  unusually  dark. 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  name  is  in  the 
Rig-veda,  where  Indra  is  praised  for  having  slain 
the  wives  of  one  Krishna;  afterward  the  same 
god  is  said  to  have  killed  fifty  thousand  Krishnas, 
all  of  whom  were  black  demons.  There  is  also 
an  early  legend  to  the  effect  that  a  demon  named 
Krishna,  the  black,  advanced  with  ten  thousand 
of  his  followers  to  the  banks  of  the  Ansumati  River, 
where  he  (or  they)  committed  fearful  depredations, 
until  he  was  defeated  by  Indra  and  stripped  of  his 
black  skin. 

In  the  Maha-bharata  the  name  is  given  to  a 
woman,  but  in  this  case  there  is  a  diacritical  point 
on  the  final  letter,  which  gives  it  the  feminine  form. 
It  is  then  applied  to  the  Princess  Draupadi,  who 
married  five  brothers,  becoming  the  wife  of  each 
of  them  the  same  day. 

Some  details  of  a  Krishna  are  found  in  the  Maha- 
bharata,  but  they  do  not  belong  to  the  plot  and 
have  the  appearance  of  being  interpolations.  The 
Krishna  here  mentioned  is  not  the  hero  of  the  epic 
but  appears  as  a  chieftain  who  takes  the  part  of 
the  real  heroes,  and  in  more  than  one  instance  he 
advises  dishonourable  warfare.  Krishna  appears 
as  a  god  in  the  Bhagavad-gita,  a  long  philosophical 


104  Hinduism 

discourse  which  is  now  found  in  the  Maha-bharata, 
but  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  Oriental 
scholars  is  to  the  effect  that  it  really  belongs  to  a 
more  modern  period.  It  is  to  the  Puranas  of  the 
Middle  Ages  that  we  have  to  look  for  the  details 
of  the  life  of  this  deity,  and  the  stories  are  there 
given  with  great  fulness  of  description  and  extrava- 
gant eulogy. 

There,  as  elsewhere,  he  is  said  to  be  the  eighth 
child  of  his  mother,  and  the  Vishnu-pur  ana  volun- 
teers the  further  statement  that  the  first  six  of  these 
children  were  the  offspring  of  a  demon  by  the  name 
of  Hiranyakasipu. I  His  father,  Vasudeva,  was  a 
cowherd,  but  not  a  chieftain  of  his  tribe.  It  is 
claimed  that  the  mission  of  Krishna  was  the 
destruction  of  Kansa,  the  tyrant  king,  who  tried 
to  forestall  him  by  killing  the  babe ;  but  he  was 
saved  by  his  father,  who  carried  him  away  in  the 
night  and  exchanged  him  for  another  child;  the 
boy  was  therefore  brought  up  by  his  foster  parents, 
Nanda,  and  his  wife,  Yasoda. 

Many  of  his  childish  exploits  are  given  in  the 
Puranas,  and  the  pictures  of  the  boy-thief  stealing 
butter  and  curds  and  carrying  off  the  garments  of 
the  bathers  are  still  very  attractive  to  his  wor- 
shippers. He  is  represented  as  the  hero  of  many 

1  Vishnu-purana,  Wilson's  trans.,  p.  498. 


Present  Conditions  105 

adventures;  it  is  said  that  while  he  was  still  a 
youth,  the  cowherds  were  planning  to  offer  an 
elaborate  sacrifice  to  Indra,  and  Krishna  dissuaded 
them  from  doing  so.  He  claimed  that  they  ought 
to  pay  their  homage  to  the  spirits  of  the  mountains 
as  they  were  in  greater  need  of  protection  from 
them  than  from  the  god  of  storms.  These  spirits 
are  hostile  demons  who  wander  whither  they  will, 
and  if  displeased  with  those  who  inhabit  the  forest, 
they  assume  the  form  of  lions,  and  other  beasts  of 
prey,  and  kill  the  offenders.  Therefore  in  obedi- 
ence to  Krishna,  the  cowherders  worshipped  the 
mountains,  making  offerings  of  curds,  milk,  and 
flesh. 

Indra,  being  thus  defrauded  of  his  usual  adula- 
tion, was  very  angry,  and  calling  upon  his  cohorts 
of  attending  clouds,  he  gave  orders  for  a  fearful 
storm. 

The  clouds,  obedient  to  his  will,  blended  their 
powers,  and  in  an  instant  the  thunders  pealed,  the 
lightnings  flashed,  and  the  pitiless  rain  poured 
down,  not  only  from  above,  but  apparently  from 
every  side.  Then  Krishna  plucked  up  a  mountain, 
and  held  it  aloft  with  one  hand,  calling  upon  his 
people  to  come  under  it.  The  herds  of  cattle,  the 
waggons  with  goods  were  quickly  driven  under 
the  great  mountain  umbrella,  and  there,  also,  the 


io6  Hinduism 

men,  women,  and  children  found  shelter.  Krishna 
received  their  adoration  while  for  seven  days  and 
nights  he  still  held  it  up. 

At  the  end  of  this  time,  the  storm  king  became 
weary,  and  commanded  the  elements  to  be  at 
peace;  then  Krishna  restored  the  mountain  to  its 
proper  place.  When  the  sunlight  flooded  the 
landscape,  Indra  himself  praised  Krishna,  and  by 
the  direction  of  the  grateful  cows  made  him 
Govinda,  or  Prince  of  the  Cattle,  and  this  is  the 
name  he  often  bears. ' 

After  this,  the  Gopis — the  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  cowherds — strove  with  each  other  for  the 
attentions  of  the  god.  It  is  said: 

They  considered  every  instant  without  him  as  a 
myriad  of  years;  and  prohibited  in  vain  by  husbands, 
fathers,  and  brothers,  they  went  forth  at  night  to 
sport  with  Krishna,  the  object  of  their  affections. 

One  evening  while  they  were  all  dancing  upon 
the  green,  the  demon  Arishto,  disguised  as  a  sav- 
age bull,  rushed  upon  them.  "  His  colour  was  like 
that  of  a  dark  cloud,  his  great  horns  were  sharp 
and  fearful;  his  eyes  were  like  two  fiery  suns; 
as  he  moved,  he  ploughed  up  the  ground  with  his 
hoofs."  When  he  came  bellowing  toward  them, 

1  Vish.  Pur.,  pp.  522-28. 


Present  Conditions  107 

the  Gopis  cried  to  Govinda  for  help,  and  the  youth 
stood  like  a  statue  waiting  the  approach  of  the 
foe.  As  soon  as  he  was  near  enough,  he  caught 
him  by  the  horns,  and  wrung  his  throat  as  if  it 
had  been  a  piece  of  wet  cloth,  then  tearing  off 
one  of  his  horns,  he  beat  the  demon  with  it  until 
he  died. * 

This  story  is  told  more  in  detail  in  the  Hari- 
vansa.  Afterward  he  killed  another  demon  who 
attacked  him  in  the  form  of  a  monstrous  horse, 
but  he  thrust  a  powerful  arm  down  the  throat  of 
his  assailant  until  the  great  horse  was  choked  to 
death. 

Wives  of  Krishna.  Many  of  his  adventures  are 
less  creditable  and  the  stories  of  his  numerous  wives 
occupy  much  space  in  the  sacred  books.  It  is 
said  that  "he  came  down  from  heaven  to  be  the 
lover  of  Radha,"  but  the  other  Gopis  to  the  number 
of  thousands  were  included  in  his  attentions. 

The  second  wife  was  Jambavati,  the  daughter  of 
a  bear.  This  marriage  could  only  take  place  after 
a  terrible  contest  with  the  grizzly  father  of  the 
bride.  Krishna  fought  the  big  bear  for  twenty- 
one  consecutive  days,  and  at  last  conquered  him. 
The  bear  then  exclaimed : 

1  Vish.  Pur.,  pp.  535-36. 


io8  Hinduism 

Thou,  mighty  being,  art  surely  invincible  by  all  the 
demons  and  by  the  spirits  of  heaven,  earth,  and  hell. 
Much  less  art  thou  to  be  vanquished  by  such  as  we, 
who  are  born  of  the  brute  creation. 

Then  humbly  prostrating  himself  at  the  feet  of 
the  conqueror,  he  presented  his  daughter  to 
Krishna  as  an  offering  suitable  for  a  guest,  and 
the  bridegroom  led  the  beautiful  animal  away  in 
triumph. x 

The  third  wife  was  the  betrothed  of  another  man, 
but  the  god  carried  the  girl  away  by  force,  and 
afterward  married  her.  Ruminiki  appears  to  have 
been  the  next  bride,  but  Krishna  professed  to  be 
very  tired  of  the  marriage  rites,  and  soon  he 
married  a  great  multitude  of  girls  by  the  same 
ceremony. 

The  Purana  says: 

Sixteen  thousand  and  one  hundred  was  the  number 
of  maidens  (included  in  the  last  marriage) ,  and  into  so 
many  forms  did  he  multiply  himself  that  every  one  of 
the  damsels  thought  he  had  wedded  her  in  his  single 
person,  and  the  creator  of  the  world — the  assumer  of 
universal  shape — abode  severally  in  the  dwelling  of 
each  of  these  his  wives.2 

It  is  declared  that  these  wives  bore  to  Krishna 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  sons,  and  the 

1  Vish.  Pur.,  p.  427.  3  Ibid.,  p.  528. 


Present  Conditions  109 

Bhagavata-purana  gives  the  names  of  about  eighty 
of  this  numerous  family. 

Death  of  the  God.  In  Dvaraka,  the  city  of 
Krishna,  according  to  the  Purana,  a  hideous  appari- 
tion representing  death  in  a  horrible  form  stalked 
in  the  streets  and  peered  into  the  houses.  Great 
consternation  prevailed,  and  as  its  visits  grew 
more  frequent,  the  chief  at  last  decided  that  the 
only  remedy  would  be  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
tribe. 

Calling  the  Yadavas  to  gather  at  a  sacred  spot  on 
the  seashore,  he  besought  them  to  render  homage  to 
a  certain  goddess,  in  the  hope  that  she  might  avert 
the  evils  that  seemed  to  threaten  the  city,  and 
mayhap  put  an  end  to  the  visits  of  the  ghastly 
spectre.  They  gathered  at  the  coast  in  great 
numbers  for  this  purpose — practically  the  whole 
tribe  being  in  camp ;  but  they  brought  with  their 
supplies  an  abundance  of  wine,  and  soon  the 
warriors  were  drinking  freely,  and  quarrelling 
over  their  cups. 

Then  says  the  Purana: 

Infuriated  by  the  divine  influence  (of  Krishna)  they 
fell  upon  one  another  with  missile  weapons,  and  when 
these  were  expended,  they  had  recourse  to  the  rushes 
growing  nigh.  The  rushes  in  their  hands  became  as 


no  Hinduism 

thunderbolts  and  with  them  they  struck  fatal  blows. 
.  .  .  Krishna,  then,  enraged,  took  up  a  handful  of 
rushes  to  destroy  them,  and  the  rushes  became  a  club 
of  iron,  and  with  this  he  slew  many  of  the  murderous 
Yadavas. ' 

After  the  members  of  the  tribe,  with  his  as- 
sistance, had  fought  to  extermination,  Krishna 
walked  away  with  one  surviving  friend.  They 
found  his  wounded  brother  Bala-Rama  dying  at 
the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  they  waited  until  they  saw 
his  spirit  come  out  of  his  mouth  in  the  form  of  an 
enormous  serpent  and  wend  its  way  slowly  to  the 
seashore,  where  it  soon  disappeared  in  the  waters. 

Then  Krishna  gave  his  friend  instructions  to  go 
to  Dvaraka  and  carry  the  news  of  the  death  of  his 
brother  to  Arjuna  and  others ;  he  also  charged  him 
to  inform  their  friends  of  his  own  approaching 
death.  Then  bidding  his  comrade  farewell,  he 
seated  himself  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  sitting  down 
Indian  fashion  with  one  foot  supported  upon  the 
other  knee : 

The  illustrious  Krishna  sat  engaged  in  thought  rest- 
ing his  foot  upon  his  knee.  Then  came  a  hunter  named 
Jara  .  .  .  and  beholding  from  a  distance  the  foot 
of  Krishna,  he  mistook  it  for  a  part  of  a  deer,  and 
shooting  an  arrow  lodged  it  in  the  sole.2  .  .  .  Then 

1  Vish.  Pur.,  p.  1 1 6. 

2  It  is  possible  that  we  have  here  an  echo  of  the  vulnerable 
heel  of  Achilles. 


Present  Conditions  in 

the  illustrious  Krishna  abandoned  his  mortal  body, 
and  the  conditions  of  the  threefold  qualities;  he  be- 
came Nirguna — devoid  of  all  qualities. 

When  Arjuna  heard  the  news,  he  went  with 
friends  to  the  scene  of  the  terrible  melee  where  the 
murderous  Yadavas  had  slain  each  other.  And 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Brahmans  he  gathered 
a  great  quantity  of  fuel  and  burned  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  not  neglecting  the  proper  funeral  obla- 
tions. He  then  sent  out  searching  parties  to  find 
the  bodies  of  Krishna  and  Bala-Rama,  and  upon 
finding  them,  he  carried  them  back  to  the  city  for 
the  funeral  rites  to  be  performed  there.  When  he 
approached  the  city  he  was  distracted  by  the 
terrible  howlings  within  her  walls,  for  each  of  the 
sixteen  thousand  wives  of  the  god  seemed  to  think 
it  was  her  wifely  duty  to  make  more  outcry  than 
any  of  the  others. 

We  have  graphic  descriptions  of  this  body  of 
women  with  dishevelled  hair,  and  loud  voices 
filling  the  air  with  their  wailings.  Four  of  the 
widows  were  burned  on  his  funeral  pyre.  Arjuna 
took  the  treasures  of  the  city  and  the  few  survivors 
home  with  him,  and  settled  them  in  Indra-prastha. 
Scarcely  had  they  left  the  scene  of  much  revelry 
and  more  crime,  when  the  waves  of  the  sea  arose 
and  swept  the  devoted  city  into  her  bosom.  Fishes 


ii2  Hinduism 

swam  through  the  gilded  halls  of  Dvaraka,  and 
the  sea  mosses  twined  around  her  idols,  while  the 
moaning  waves  sang  the  requiem  of  fallen  splen- 
dour and  the  billows  chanted  dirges  for  the  dead. x 
Although  these  things  are  not  history  in  any 
true  sense  of  that  word,  they  at  least  represent 
their  own  side  of  the  question — they  give  the  oft- 
repeated  assertions  of  their  standard  works  on 
this  subject. 

'Vish.  Pur.,  p.  1 1 6. 


CHAPTER  VI 
PRESENT  CONDITIONS  (Continued) 

Modern    Krishna    Worship.     Hindu    Gurus.     The    Gossains. 
European  and  American  Fanatics. 

\  7ISHNU  is  adored  under  various  names  and 
*  in  many  localities.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
constant  repetition  of  a  certain  formula  is  of  such 
efficiency  that  visions  of  the  god  are  vouchsafed  to 
those  who  are  faithful  in  the  performance  of  this 
duty. 

One  enthusiastic  devotee  who  longed  for  this 
experience  consulted  a  Brahman  who,  for  a  satis- 
factory reward,  told  him  of  the  proper  text,  or 
mantra,  which,  if  repeated  for  800,000  times,  would 
produce  the  desired  result.  This  arduous  task 
was  accomplished  by  persevering  in  hard  work 
nearly  all  the  time,  day  and  night,  for  three 
months.  Then,  as  no  vision  followed,  the  victim 
went  to  the  priest  and  told  him  of  the  failure  of 
the  experiment.  The  Brahman  glibly  explained, 
however,  that  some  slight  mistake  must  have  been 
made  in  the  utterance  of  some  one  word,  and  any 
s  113 


ii4  Hinduism 

such  slip  would  necessitate  the  repetition  of  the 
whole  performance  until  the  task  was  completed 
without  the  slightest  verbal  slip,  then  the  longed- 
for  vision  would  come ! 

The  most  popular  form  of  Vishnu,  especially 
among  the  lower  classes,  is  Krishna,  and  his  images 
abound  throughout  the  country.  The  mere  me- 
chanical repetition  of  one  of  his  many  names,  even 
though  the  mind  of  the  worshipper  be  fixed  upon 
something  else,  secures  admission  into  Vishnu's 
heaven.  The  worship  of  his  images  is  very  much 
like  the  daily  homage  paid  to  Shiva,  the  same  pro- 
cess of  dressing  and  undressing,  washing,  painting, 
and  offering  refreshments  to  the  idol  being  con- 
stantly repeated  in  many  localities,  day  after  day, 
and  year  after  year,  for  a  lifetime — nay,  for  many 
lifetimes,  for  they  are  repeated  from  one  generation 
to  the  next. 

In  Europe  and  America,  however,  we  have  as  yet 
no  large  idols  of  Krishna  to  be  painted,  dressed,  and 
adored,  from  morning  until  night,  hence  it  has  been 
necessary  to  somewhat  modify  the  worship  here. 

A  Krishna  priest  gives  long  and  definite  de- 
scriptions of  the  duties  of  the  Vaishnava  evidently 
intended  for  use  on  American  and  European  soil. 
He  says: 


Present  Conditions  115 

The  Krishna  worshipper  is  either  a  householder  or 
a  hermit  .  .  .  the  formula  of  worship  and  religious  rule 
of  life  as  practised  by  both  the  hermit  and  the  house- 
holder are  practically  the  same. 

He  then  devotes  hundreds  of  words  to  the  definite 
rules  concerning  the  invocations  of  the  entire 
forenoon.  Afterward  he  says: 

But  this  morning  worship  is  not  all  that  the  house- 
holder Vaishnava  performs  to  attain  the  love  of  Krishna. 
He  eats  or  drinks  nothing,  without  first  offering  it 
through  some  mystic  formula  to  Krishna,  and  his 
food  is  pure  vegetables,  his  drink  pure  water.  In  the 
evening  he  joins  other  Vaishnavas  to  tell  of  Krishna, 
hear  of  the  sacred  earthly  acts  of  Krishna,  sing  of 
Krishna,  and  when  the  spirit  of  song  moves  him,  he 
dances  with  others  in  ecstasy.  Besides  these  practices, 
he  repeats  many  thousand  times  the  name  of  Krishna 
over  his  Tulsai  rosary  ...  a  Vaishnava  should,  at  all 
times,  sing  of  Krishna. 

Dr.  Bhattacharya,  the  scholarly  Brahman,  de- 
votes many  pages  to  descriptions  of  some  of  the 
most  loathsome  Hindu  sects  and  then  says : 

vVith  all  his  cleanliness,  and  vegetarianism,  and 
teetotalism,  the  Vaishnava  (or  Krishna  devotee)  is 
perhaps  the  most  dangerous  in  the  whole  list.  .  .  . 
The  moral  laxity  which  he  encourages  by  the  stories 
of  the  illicit  loves  between  his  gods  and  goddesses, 
and  by  the  strong  tendency  to  imitate  them  which 


n6  Hinduism 

his  teachings  generate,  outweighs  the  good  done  by 
him. 

Every  man  of  common-sense  naturally  feels  a  horror 
at  the  Tantrik  and  the  Aghori,  but  the  Vaishnava 
insinuates  himself  in  a  manner  that  is  irresistible.  .  .  . 
The  manner  in  which,  in  the  case  of  Krishna,  man- 
worship  has  degenerated  into  abomination  worship 
may  be  traced  step  by  step  .  .  .  the  Bhagavata  and 
Brahma  Vaivarta  throw  aside  every  mask,  and  in  the 
most  shameless  manner  attempt  to  sanctify  every  form 
of  debauchery,  so  as  to  enable  the  priestly  class  to 
gratify  their  lust.  .  .  .  The  reader  is  called  upon  to 
admire  and  worship  Krishna,  on  account  of  his  having 
seduced  the  milkmaids  of  Brindavan  by  every  kind 
of  trick  that  the  most  wicked  of  human  beings  could 
invent. 

The  chief  object  of  his  love  was  one  Radha,  who, 
according  to  some  of  the  authorities,  was  the  wife  of 
the  brother  of  his  foster-mother.  The  very  name  of 
this  Radha  is  not  now  to  be  found  even  in  the  Bhag- 
vat.  But  by  an  abuse  of  scientific  terms,  she  is 
represented  by  the  latter-day  Vishnuvites  as  the 
Prakriti,  or  the  material  basis  of  the  Yoga  phi- 
losophy, and  Krishna  is  represented  as  the  Purush 
by  whose  union  with  the  Prakriti  this  universe  was 
created. 

In  almost  all  the  modern  Vishnuvite  shrines,  an 
image  of  Radha  is  associated  with  that  of  Krishna,  and 
in  Northern  India  there  are  very  few  temples  in  which 
Ruminiki  or  any  of  the  married  wives  of  Krishna  are 
worshipped  with  him. 

The  tales  and  songs  connected  with  Radha  and 
Krishna  cannot  for  the  sake  of  decency  be  referred  to 
here.  The  reader,  unacquainted  with  them,  and 


Present  Conditions  117 

curious  to  know  their  details,  must  take  the  trouble 
to  read  the  two  modern  Puranas  mentioned  above, 
and  also  the  work  of  Jaya-deva,  Vidyapati,  etc. 

According  to  the  legends  contained  in  these  works, 
when  Krishna,  by  killing  Kansa,  became  the  virtual 
ruler  of  Mathura,  he  forsook  not  only  Radha,  and  the 
other  cowherd  women  of  Brindavan,  whom  he  had 
seduced,  but,  in  the  most  heartless  manner,  disowned 
even  his  foster-parents. 

These  stories  form  the  theme  of  the  most  heart- 
rending songs  and  odes,  and  being  much  more  intel- 
ligible to  all  classes  of  women,  both  young  and  old, 
than  the  wars  and  intrigues  of  the  Mahabharata,  are 
much  better  calculated  than  anything  else  to  enable 
the  priest  to  acquire  a  hold  on  their  hearts  by  awak- 
ening their  tenderest  sentiments.1 

Modern  Hindu  Gurus.  The  Guru  is  a  modern 
money -making  invention  who  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  earlier  literature  of  India.  The  word  origin- 
ally meant  a  teacher  of  the  Vedas,  and  as  such  it 
conveyed  the  idea  of  respectability,  but  the  Vedic 
mantras  are  too  voluminous,  and  prosaic,  to  at- 
tract many  pupils,  and  women  are  not  allowed 
to  study  them  at  all,  neither  are  the  lower  castes, 
hence  pupils  in  these  classes  were  so  few  in  num- 
ber that  the  income  from  them  was  exceedingly 
small. 

The    Tantriks,    however,    were    equal    to    the 

'Bhatt.,  Hindu  Castes  and  Sects,  pp.  391,  394,  431,  433« 


n8  Hinduism 

emergency  of  furnishing  profitable  employment 
for  any  Brahman  who  could  read,  in  this  way: 
They  gave  the  name  of  mantra  to  some  mystic 
and  meaningless  syllables,  which  might  be  given 
to  the  pupil,  and  taught  at  a  single  sitting.  The 
lowest  castes,  and  even  women,  were  made  eligible 
to  these  classes,  and  almost  any  Brahman  was 
enabled  to  collect  around  him  an  army  of  chellas 
who  were  bound  by  their  vows  to  worship  him  as 
their  god,  and  to  pay  a  yearly  tax  to  him  and  his 
descendants  from  generation  to  generation.  In 
this  vow  the  victim  swears  that:  "My  soul, 
mind  and  body,  are  irrevocably  sold  to  my  Guru'' 
whose  name  is  given,  and  then  the  ownership  of 
his  victim  becomes  absolute.  When  the  sons  of 
a  deceased  Guru  make  a  division  of  his  property, 
the  chellas  are  counted  as  so  many  slaves,  and  are 
distributed  among  the  heirs  in  the  same  way  as  the 
other  properties  belonging  to  the  estate. 

This  simple  method  of  inventing  and  installing 
Gurus  in  modern  times  is  remarkably  easy  and 
successful.  It  is  true  that  such  mystic  syllables 
as  hoong,  doong,  kling,  or  hring,  are,  as  Bhat- 
tacharya  says, 

an  outrage  upon  common- sense.  But,  [he  adds],  the 
gullibility  of  man  has  no  limit,  and  the  Guru 
who  whispers  these  meaningless  expressions  into  the 


Present  Conditions  119 

ears  of  his  disciple  is  worshipped  and  paid  by  him  (or 
her)  as  the  bestower  of  untold  benefits. 

The  chella  is  not  allowed  to  reveal  these  mystic 
syllables  to  any  one.  The  matter  is  certainly  not 
such  as  to  be  capable  of  bearing  the  light  of  intelligent 
criticism.  The  Guru  therefore  acts  wisely  in  insisting 
that  the  communication  should  be  treated  as  strictly 
confidential.  .  .  .  Furthermore,  those  meaningless 
syllables,  or  short  sentences,  must  be  repeated  by  the 
chella,  many  times  a  day,  and  thus  he  is  kept  in  con- 
stant bondage  to  the  man  who  first  whispered  them 
into  his  or  her  ears.1 

The  Gurus  are  ingenious,  also,  about  adding  to 
their  income  in  various  ways.  For  instance, 
Ram  Sarana  Pal,  belonging  among  the  Gurus 
of  Bengal,  was  a  man  of  great  originality.  He 
proclaimed  himself  the  proprietor  of  every  human 
body,  and  claimed  that  he  was  entitled  to  rent 
from  every  human  being  for  allowing  his  soul  to 
occupy  his  body!  In  order  to  enforce  this  right, 
and  to  give  a  pecuniary  interest  to  the  most  in- 
fluential of  his  followers  so  as  to  strengthen  his 
position  with  them,  he  appointed  several  of  the 
chief  men  among  them  as  agents  and  bailiffs,  for 
collecting  his  revenue. 

The  majority  of  the  dupes  are  women  who 
gladly  pay  the  small  tax  demanded  of  them  for  the 

1  Bhatt.,  pp.  27-28. 


120  Hinduism 

rental  of  the  bodies  of  their  husbands  and  children, 
so  as  to  insure  long  life  to  their  families. 

Each  agent  of  the  Guru  is  generally  on  very 
friendly  terms  with  some  woman  in  the  village,  or 
group  of  villages,  assigned  to  his  care,  and  through 
the  instrumentality  of  this  woman,  he  is  enabled 
to  hold  secret  meetings  which  are  attended  by 
all  the  female  votaries  within  his  jurisdiction,  and 
in  which  he  plays  the  part  of  Krishna.  The 
agents  of  the  Guru  are  required  to  pay  over  to 
him  all  of  their  collections,  except  their  own 
commissions,  at  a  grand  levee  which  is  held  by 
him  at  his  family  residence  in  the  month  of 
March. 

At  this  time,  the  Guru  performs  the  most  won- 
derful miracles,  curing  leprosy,  blindness,  deaf- 
ness, and  other  things  which  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  Hindu  medication.  A  Brahman,  writing  from 
near  the  scene  of  action,  describes  one  "cure"  as 
follows : 

The  crowd  was  great,  but  the  blind  man  managed 
to  elbow  his  way  through  it  and  bring  his  case  to  the 
notice  of  the  Guru.  .  .  .  Suddenly  he  was  seized  by 
attendants  and  taken  to  a  near-by  tank,  where  sand 
was  vigorously  rubbed  into  his  eyes  while  he  cried  out 
in  agony.  .  .  .  While  they  were  doing  it  they  kept 
asking  whether  his  sight  was  restored  or  not.  .  .  . 
Finding  there  was  no  other  escape  from  the  torture  he 


Present  Conditions  121 

at  last  said  it  was,  and  then  a  great  shout  went  up  that 
a  marvellous  cure  had  been  effected. 

"He  was  made  to  bathe  in  the  tank,  for  washing 
away  the  sand,  and  then  he  was  carried  in  triumph 
through  the  crowd,  being  borne  aloft  in  the  air,  like 
a  Roman  victor.  After  this  advertisement  of  the 
miracle,  the  victim  was  deported  from  the  village  so 
secretly  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  of  the  pilgrims 
to  ascertain  the  truth  of  the  matter,  and  it  is  very 
likely  that  one  of  the  attendants  represented  himself 
as  the  blind  man  who  had  been  restored  to  his 
sight. 

Guru  worship  is  naturally  favoured  by  the 
priest-ridden  Hindu  everywhere,  but  it  is  only 
among  certain  classes  that  a  god  would  be  humil- 
iated for  the  honour  of  this  man.  The  drinking 
of  such  water  as  has  been  used  for  washing  the 
feet  of  the  Guru  is  common  enough,  but  some  of 
his  devotees  will  go  much  farther  in  their 
adoration. 

The  Gurus  are  mostly  of  two  classes,  the  Tantrik 
and  the  Vaishnava.  The  Tantriks  inculcate  and 
enforce  the  homage  to  the  wives  of  Shiva,  and  the 
worship  of  courtesans.  They  also  claim  that 
while  meeting  together  for  the  practice  of  the 
Bacchanalian  rites,  all  the  members  of  their  orgies 
have  a  higher  position  than  that  of  the  most 
exalted  Brahmans. 

The  Vaishnavas  enforce  the  equally  degrading 


122  Hinduism 

worship  of  either  Krishna,  or  some  other  incar- 
nation of  Vishnu,  which  often  includes  the  Guru 
or  the  Gossain.  Both  sects  agree  that  the  Gurus 
are  a  necessity,  and  that  they  must  be  well  paid 
by  those  who  have  sold  themselves,  "body,  soul, 
and  mind,"  into  this  abject  slavery. 

The  Gossains.  This  word  is*  a  corruption  of 
Goswami,  which  is  a  compound  consisting  of  go 
and  swami.  Swami  means  an  owner, — a  lord  or 
master, — hence  when  it  is  assumed  by  a  French- 
woman it  is  at  least  a  misnomer. r  Go  has  several 
meanings,  such  as  cow,  earth,  mountain,  etc.  Hence 
the  word  Goswami  may  mean  "Lord  of  Cows," 
"Lord  of  Mountains, "  "  Owner  of  the  Earth, "  etc. 
"Lord  of  the  Cows"  is  one  of  the  favourite  titles 
of  Krishna  and  at  present  his  worshippers  are 
divided  into  several  sects — indeed  the  greater  part 
of  modern  Hinduism  is  apparently  divided  between 
the  idolatry  connected  with  Shiva  and  his  wives, 
and  the  followers  of  Krishna,  and  the  devotion 
paid  to  his  female  favourites,  which  follows  along 
the  same  corrupt  lines. 

The  ex-Chief  Justice  of  Indore,  in  hi-s  address 

1  Dr.  Chas.  R.  Lanman,  Professor  of  Sanskrit  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, in  a  recent  letter  to  the  author  says:  "  Don't  fail  to  point 
out  that  the  Swamis  are  self-appointed  'Lords'  or  'Owners.' 
'Svamin'  means  'owner'  from  svam,  'own.'" 


Present  Conditions  123 

before  the  Congress  of  Orientalists  held  in  London, 
well  says  that : 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  Krishna 
worship  is  the  blind  homage  paid  to  the  Gossains  of 
the  Vallabh  sect. 

The  cult  is  of  recent  origin,  and  its  principal  doctrine 
is  that  of  faith,  or  Bhakti — of  sacrificing  everything 
for  the  Guru.  Their  mantras  for  the  common  people 
are,  "Sri  Krishna  Sarakam  mam"  (My  shelter  is 
Krishna),  or  "Kling  Krishnaya;  Gopi  Jan  ballabhaya 
Swaha"  (Swaha  to  Krishna,  the  beloved  of  the  Gopis). 

For  the  richer  and  more  well-to-do,  the  mantra  is 
longer.  Translated  into  English  it  is:  "Sri  Krishna 
is  my  refuge  from  the  sorrows  and  troubles  caused 
by  separation  of  hundreds  of  years,  and  from  unlimited 
time;  for  the  removal  of  these,  I  offer  to  Lord  Krishna 
my  body,  its  organs,  their  functions,  wife  (or  husband), 
house,  son,  wealth,  and  all  that  I  have.  I  am  thy  slave, 
Krishna." 

The  Gossains  of  this  sect  represent  themselves  to  be 
so  many  embodiments  of  Krishna,  and  expect  and 
receive  from  their  followers,  not  only  a  dedication  of 
their  wealth  and  money,  but  of  their  persons,  espe- 
cially the  female  and  handsomer  portion  of  them.1 

Some  parts  of  this  worship  would  appear  to  the 
outsider  to  be  innocent  enough,  but  its  inevitable 
tendency,  especially  where  it  is  joined  with  reci- 
tations from  the  poem  of  Jaya-deva,  the  Bhaga- 
vata-purana,  and  other  works  of  that  class,  is 

1  Ex-Chief  Justice,  Trans.  Ninth  Internal.  Cong.,  vol.  i.,  p.  145. 


124  Hinduism 

to    develop   all  the  immoralities  of  the  Krishna 
and  Radha  ceremonies. 

Serious  charges  of  this  nature  were  brought 
against  the  Gossains  in  the  celebrated  case  of  the 
Bombay  Maharajas  which  came  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Bombay,  and  in  the  judgment 
rendered  by  Sir  Matthew  Sausse  he  says: 

All  songs  connected  with  the  god  Krishna,  which 
were  brought  before  us,  were  of  an  amorous  character, 
and  it  appeared  that  songs  of  a  corrupting  and  licen- 
tious tendency,  both  in  ideas  and  expressions,  are  sung 
by  young  females  to  the  Maharaja  (or  Gossain)  upon 
festive  occasions  in  which  they  are  identified  with  the 
god  in  his  most  licentious  aspect.1 

The  testimony  given  by  Judge  Lala  Baijnath 
refers  to  the  times  since  the  criminal  practices  of 
the  priests  were  considerably  checked  by  the 
results  of  this  celebrated  trial. 

But  still  in  the  temples  where  the  priests  do 
homage  to  the  idols,  men  and  women  perform  their 
acts  of  adoration  to  the  Gossains.  One  mode  of 
worshipping  the  idols  is  swinging  them,  and  the 
women  worship,  not  the  god,  but  the  priest  or 
Gossain  by  swinging  him  in  a  pendant  seat.  The 
work  of  swinging  the  idol  would  be  far  easier, 
but  that  has  already  been  done  by  the  Maharaja, 

1  Sausse,  History  of  the  Bombay  Maharajas,  p.  142. 


Present  Conditions  125 

who  now  takes  his  ease  in  the  swinging  seat  at 
the  expense  of  his  tired  devotees,  who  do  the  work, 
and  also  pay  well  for  the  privilege  of  doing  it ! 

Not  only  this,  but  the  pan-supra,  or  saliva  ejected 
from  his  mouth,  the  leavings  of  his  food,  and  the 
very  dust  whereon  he  has  walked,  are  eagerly  eaten 
by  them.  The  water  in  which  the  dirty  images  have 
been  washed  is  "holy  water,"  and  the  devotees 
also  eagerly  drink  that  in  which  the  garments  of 
the  Gossains  have  been  washed,  while  that  in 
which  their  feet  have  been  bathed  is  called  Caran- 
amrita,  or  "feet  nectar,"  and  it  is  used  in  the 
same  way. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  an  English 
audience,  and  reported  by  the  London  Daily  News 
Narayan  Seshadri  boasted  that  he  himself  had 
claimed  and  received  divine  honours,  and  had 
seen  believers  among  his  own  countrymen  greedily 
drink  the  water  in  which  his  feet  had  been  washed. 

But  infinitely  worse  than  all  this — it  is  believed  that 
the  best  mode  of  propitiating  them  [the  Gossains]  is 
by  ministering  to  their  sensual  appetites.  Body, 
soul,  and  property  (tan,  man,  dhan)  must  be  wholly 
made  over  to  them,  by  their  disciples,  and  their  women 
are  taught  to  believe  that  the  highest  bliss  will  be 
secured  to  themselves  and  their  families  by  the 
caresses  of  Krishna's  representatives."1 

1  Williams,  Hind.,  p.  145. 


126  Hinduism 

Like  the  Hindu  priests  in  Europe  and  America, 
the  Gossains  are  thrifty  souls,  and  they  demand 
good  prices  for  whatever  honours  they  may  con- 
descend to  bestow  upon  their  devotees.  In  a  work 
written  by  a  Brahman  and  published  in  Calcutta, 
we  find  the  prices  of  these  favours  well  defined. 
He  says: 

Their  tariff  is  as  given  below : 
For  homage  by  sight,  five  rupees.1 

For  homage  by  touch,  twenty  rupees. 

For  the  honour  of  washing  the  Maharaja's  foot, 
thirty-five  rupees. 

For  swinging  him,  forty  rupees. 

For  rubbing  sweet  unguents  on  his  body,  forty-two 
rupees. 

For  being  allowed  to  sit  with  him  on  the  same 
couch,  sixty  rupees. 

For  being  closeted  with  him  in  the  same  room, 
from  fifty  to  five  hundred  rupees. 

For  eating  pan  (spittle)  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Maharaja,  seventeen  rupees. 

For  the  privilege  of  dancing  with  him,  from  one 
hundred  to  two  hundred  rupees. 

For  drinking  the  water  in  which  he  has  bathed, 
seventeen  rupees.2 

1 A  rupee  is  about  forty-eight  cents. 
2Bhatt.,  H.  C.  and  S.,  p.  457. 


Present  Conditions  127 

If  such  prices  as  these  are  exacted  from  the 
poor  people  of  India  for  these  honours,  we  can 
only  imagine  what  rates  are  paid  by  rich  white 
women  who  follow  after  the  same  notorious 
characters. 

European  and  American  Fanatics.  One  would 
hardly  expect  to  find  this  confessedly  corrupt  cult 
flourishing  in  the  United  States,  but  a  book 
recently  written  by  a  Krishna  priest  and  pub- 
lished on  American  soil  is  dedicated:  "To  my 
Guru,  to  whom  my  Soul,  Mind,  and  Body  are  irre- 
vocably sold,  in  payment  of  the  grace  of  his  illumin- 
ation which  lighted  my  path  to  the  Lotus  feet  of 
Krishna,  my  Beloved. " 

Hence  we  can  easily  see  the  character  of  the 
vows  which  must  finally  be  taken  by  this  man's 
devotees,  and  cease  to  wonder  that  so  many  of 
them  find  at  last  a  refuge, — not  in  Krishna,  but 
in  the  asylums. 

And  yet,  knowing  these  things,  the  Swamis  are 
constantly  advocating  Krishnaism  on  both  Euro- 
pean and  American  soil.  They  know  their  own 
official  works  are  the  exponents  of  the  character 
of  the  boy  thief,  the  dishonourable  warrior,  the 
licentious  lover,  and  all  of  the  unspeakable  ob- 
scenity connected  even  with  his  public  worship, 


128  Hinduism 

in  places  where  they  dare  go  through  with  the 
whole  ceremony,  and  they  know  that  this  idola- 
try is  utterly  degrading  to  all  who  are  tainted 
therewith,  and  yet  they  are  persistently  teaching 
it  in  such  language  as  the  following : 

Krishna  is  Love  itself,  the  Love  that  draws  the 
Lover  and  the  Loved  closest  to  each  other.  // 
knows  no  ceremony,  knows  no  formal  respect.  It 
knows  no  motive.  Love  is  its  own  cause,  motive, 
and  satisfaction.  It  knows  no  barrier,  sees  no  faults, 
nay  sees  virtue  in  faults. 

A  Chicago  woman  who  entertained  one  of  the 
Hindu  priests  in  her  home  said  she  had  "  never 
heard  any  one  talk  so  beautifully  about  L-o-v-e"! 

Family  ties  are  not  allowed  to  intervene  in  any 
way  between  the  Swamis  and  their  devotees,  for 
the  official  statement  is: 

It  knows  no  barrier!  We  know  thee,  O  Krishna 
[or  thy  representatives,]  as  one  greater  and  nearer  to 
us  than  our  husbands,  brothers,  and  fathers;  and  even 
at  the  risk  of  their  displeasure  to  us,  we  come  to  lay 
at  thy  feet  our  poor  offerings  and  our  hearts. 

It  was  in  harmony  with  this  creed  that  the  wife 
of  a  prominent  educator  abandoned  her  family, 
with  the  announcement:  "My  husband  and 
children  are  no  more  to  me  than  others  who  are 
equally  deserving  of  my  regard.  My  religion 
teaches  me  that  they  have  no  claim  on  me! " 


Present  Conditions  129 

In  one  of  our  great  cities,  the  headquarters  of  a 
Hindu  cult  are,  or  were  until  very  recently,  in 
charge  of  an  American  woman  who  had  taken  the 
terrible  vows,  and  the  veil  of  an  Indian  nun.  Her 
associates  declared:  "We  know  nothing  of  former 
relationships.  She  now  belongs  more  to  us  than 
to  her  family!" 

A  well-known  New  England  woman,  having 
fallen  under  the  hypnotic  sway  of  a  Swami,  made 
over  her  entire  fortune  at  his  dictation.  After 
the  papers  were  safely  made  out,  the  "further 
mysteries"  were  revealed  to  her.  Can  we  wonder 
that  she  then  went  hopelessly  insane  and  was 
for  years — in  the  asylum? 

The  Gurus  do  not,  as  yet,  bring  their  most 
hideous  idols  with  them — only  some  little  image 
before  which  to  say  one's  prayers  "so  as  to  aid  in 
concentration."  But  far  worse  than  idolatry 
before  images  is  the  man-worship  which  they 
inculcate  and  enforce, — the  slavish  devotion  to 
the  priests. 

One  well-known  Swami  was  in  the  habit  of  re- 
ceiving the  adoration  of  his  followers,  when  he 
came  out  of  his  "daily  meditation.  Then  these 
American  women  were  ready  to  caress  his  robe, 
and  kiss  his  sandaled  feet! 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  Swami  or   Guru 


130  Hinduism 

takes  a  foreign  trip  from  the  Middle  West,  by  way 
of  New  York,  when  the  most  palatial  ocean 
steamer  and  the  most  luxurious  Pullman  cars  are 
allowed  to  carry  him  abroad  and  through  the 
principal  cities  of  Europe.  On  these  occasions  he 
sometimes  tolerates  the  companionship  of  the 
rich  woman  who  pays  all  the  bills! 

"He  was  my  man-god"  (or  Guru),  wailed  the 
poor  New  York  girl  over  the  body  of  the  creature 
she  worshipped,  and  tried  to  follow  into  the  land  of 
shadows,  by  way  of  suicide! 

To  the  "holy  men"  it  surely  is  a  wonderful 
change  from  their  native  poverty,  to  Western 
wealth  and  luxury.  Squatting  in  a  loin-cloth  at 
the  gate  of  a  heathen  temple,  as  many  of  them  do, 
and  receiving  alms  from  the  passers-by,  is  not 
nearly  so  attractive  as  sitting  in  luxuriously 
furnished  parlours,  while  their  dupes  bring  in  their 
delicate  or  valuable  offerings. 

Money  and  costly  presents  given  to  their  "man- 
god"  counts  greatly  to  the  "accumulated  merit" 
of  European  and  American  women,  but  while  they 
receive  a  vast  amount  of  lip  flattery  from  the 
objects  of  their  devotion,  they  are  inwardly  held 
in  contempt,  for  no  woman  can  cheapen  herself, 
without  paying  the  terrible  penalty.  What  won- 
der that  Vivekananda,  on  his  return  to  his  native 


Present  Conditions  131 

soil,  spread  the  report  that  American  women  were, 
in  character,  even  like  the  dancing  girls  of  India? 

There  are  too  many  even  in  civilised 
countries,  who  are  entranced  with  doctrines  which 
are  claimed  to  represent  Krishnaism,  but  the 
philosophy  which  is  at  first  presented  for  their 
approval  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  unspeakable 
worship  pertaining  to  "the  dark  god." 

The  final  vows  are  a  horrible  secret  which  cannot 
be  revealed  under  penalty  of  punishments  which  are 
far  worse  than  death — it  would  at  last  bring  upon 
the  devoted  heads  of  the  victims  the  curses  of  all 
the  gods  in  the  Hindu  pantheon ! 

A  poor  desolated  and  deserted  girl  in  New  York 
at  last  testified  that  a  vein  was  opened  in  her  arm, 
and  she  was  compelled  to  sign  her  vows  with  a  pen 
dipped  in  her  own  blood! 

Let  the  white  woman  beware  of  the  hypnotic 
influence  of  the  East — let  her  remember  that 
when  her  Guru,  or  god-man,  has  once  whispered 
his  mystic  syllables  into  her  ear1  and  she  has 
sworn  allegiance  to  him,  she  is  for  ever  helpless  in 
his  hands. 

The  Swami,  Gossain,  or  Guru  is  now  quite  at 
home  in  both  Europe  and  America  and  many  a 
desolated  home  lies  in  the  trail  of  his  silken  robes. 

'See  p.  118. 


132  Hinduism 

When  for  any  reason  they  are  forced  out  of  one 
community,  other  cities,  other  aliases,  and  other 
victims  are  always  waiting  for  them  farther  on. 
For  instance  one  of  the  most  popular  Swamis  in 
the  Eastern  States  left  Chicago,  according  to  the 
newspapers,  at  the  strenuous  invitation  of  an 
indignant  husband.  Another,  who  is  now  doing 
a  flourishing  business  in  California,  left  the  same 
city  on  account  of  irreconcilable  difficulties  with 
the  police. 

Certain  it  is,  that  if  our  clean-hearted  American 
women  were  acquainted  with  the  true  character 
of  the  cult,  they  would  flee  its  contaminating 
influence.  But  "the  further  mysteries"  are  not 
revealed  until  the  victim  is  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  returning  mental  health,  and  the  descent  to 
heathenism  has  been  so  gradual,  and  the  way  has 
been  painted  in  such  alluring  colours,  that  she  has 
been  unconscious  of  her  destination  until  it  was  too 
late. 

Let  our  people  read  the  standard  Hindu  works  on 
this  subject, — let  them  look  into  the  pages  of  the 
Vishnu-purana,  which  may  be  found  in  English 
translation  in  our  large  libraries,  let  them  study 
the  Bhagavata-purana;  they  are  both  devoted  to 
the  glorification  of  Krishna,  and  they  both  show 
him  to  be  the  worst  type  of  a  shameless  sensualist, 


Present  Conditions  133 

faithless  lover,  and  undutiful  son.  Lacking  these, 
let  them  read  the  works  of  English  scholars  like 
Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams  or  Prof.  F.  Max 
Miiller.  If  they  will  only  investigate  the  matter 
in  any  sane  and  scholarly  way,  all  illusions  on  this 
subject  will  quickly  vanish,  and  the  priests  of 
Hinduism  will  no  longer  be  able  to  "creep  into 
houses  and  lead  captive  silly  women." 


CHAPTER  VII 

IMITATIONS    OF    OLD    TESTAMENT    HISTORY 

The  Work  of  Translators.  Imposition  upon  Wilford.  Teachers 
of  Hinduism.  Adam  and  Eve.  Story  of  the  Flood.  Abra- 
ham and  Isaac.  The  Gita-govinda. 


T^HE  literature  of  India  is  colossal  in  its  pro- 
portions, and  it  was  not  until  the  iQth 
century  that  its  problems  were  solved  by  English- 
speaking  scholars.  This  was  necessarily  done 
by  a  division  of  labour,  for  life  is  too  short  to 
enable  any  one  worker  to  obtain  from  original 
sources  a  complete  knowledge  of  Indian  philology, 
language,  and  history. 

That  prince  of  philologists,  Prof.  F.  Max 
Muller,  devoted  twenty  of  the  best  years  of  his 
life  to  the  Rig-veda  alone.  Colonel  Colin  Mac- 
kenzie spent  many  years  in  collecting  and  arrang- 
ing thirty  -four  large  folio  volumes  of  manuscripts, 
but  his  careful  methods  were  of  inestimable  value 
to  those  who  came  after  him. 

A  thorough  study  of  the  Puranas  alone  would 
occupy  half  a  century,  but  a  year  devoted  to 

134 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament  135 

the  excellent  translations  of  the  late  Horace  Hay- 
man  Wilson  will  give  one  a  very  good  idea  of  their 
contents. 

The  Hindus  themselves  claim,  in  the  Padma- 
purana,  that  these  books  "consisted  originally  of 
one  thousand  million  stanzas,  but  four  hundred 
thousand  of  them  were  thought  to  be  sufficient 
for  the  instruction  of  men,  and  the  rest  were 
preserved  for  the  gods." 

These  "four  hundred  thousand  stanzas,"  how- 
ever, are  equal  to  sixteen  hundred  thousand  lines, 
and  the  student  has  reason  to  be  thankful  that 
the  gods  kept  the  greater  portion  of  these  books 
for  their  own  private  use! 

The  literature  of  India  was  never  properly 
classified — it  was  never  published,  even  in  the 
Sanskrit  tongue,  until  it  was  done  by  European 
scholars,  under  the  auspices  of  England's  greatest 
university. 

The  fact  that  these  books  had  for  centuries 
been  transmitted  from  one  generation  to  the  next 
only  by  constant  repetition  and  memorising  by  the 
students  gave  them  a  weird  influence  over  the 
Anglo-Saxon  as  well  as  over  the  Asiatic.  And 
when  we  remember  that  the  Veda  among  the 
Hindus  occupies  very  much  the  position  accorded 
to  the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  letters — that  it 


136  Hinduism 

is  as  sacred  to  the  Indian  as  our  Scriptures  are  to 
us — we  cannot  wonder  that  it  has  attracted  the 
attention  of  scholars  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

Imposition  upon  Wilford.  According  to  Max 
Muller,  the  pandits  were  greatly  opposed  to  the 
translation  of  the  Veda  from  the  Sanskrit.  They 
were  obliged  to  admit  that  the  edition  was  com- 
plete and  authentic,  but  it  took  from  them  their 
principal  weapon  against  the  missionaries. 

"  In  former  times,  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
declare  that  there  was  no  commandment  in  the 
Old  Testament,  no  precept  in  the  New,  which  had 
not  been  anticipated  in  the  Vedas,  and  when  the 
incredulous  missionary  asked  for  the  manuscript, 
he  was  coolly  informed  that  so  sacred  a  document 
must  not  be  touched  by  an  unbeliever !  " T  It  was 
also  asserted  that  "the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus 
were  thousands  of  years  older  than  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  had  indeed  been  largely  borrowed 
from  them!" 

Men  who  should  have  been  more  careful  allowed 
these  statements  in  some  cases  to  pass  unchal- 
lenged, while  eager  sceptics  hailed  the  idea  with 
delight,  and  added  very  largely  to  the  stories  thus 
set  afloat. 

Men  and  women,  too,  who  could  not  tell  to  save 

1  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  ii.,  p.  304. 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   137 

their  lives  what  a  Veda  might  be,  were  very  loud 
and  confident  in  their  assertions  that  the  whole 
Bible  had  been  borrowed  from  books  whose  names 
they  could  not  spell,  nor  pronounce  after  they 
had  been  spelled ! 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Lieut. 
Wilford  took  up  the  work  of  investigation  in 
Calcutta.  He  had  become  convinced  that  the 
Hindus  possessed  in  their  literature  some  of  the 
myths  found  in  Greek  and  Roman  mythology, 
and  not  only  this,  but  he  had  an  idea  that  the 
narratives  of  the  Old  Testament  had  possibly 
been  derived  from  the  same  source,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  verify  the  supposition. 

With  this  object  in  view,  he  cultivated  the 
friendship  of  the  priests,  finding  their  affections 
were  easily  won  by  gifts  which  were  more  or  less 
costly,  and  then  availed  himself  of  this  acquaint- 
ance for  the  examination  of  the  problems  in- 
volved. He  then  told  them  the  principal  stories  of 
classical  mythology  and  the  leading  events  in  Old 
Testament  history;  he  assured  them  they  would 
find  these  things  in  their  own  sacred  books,  if  they 
would  only  look  for  them,  but  no  results  were 
forthcoming.  He  then  held  out  hopes  of  goodly 
financial  rewards  if  they  would  find  them,  and  this 
offer  worked  like  magic. 


138  Hinduism 

Soon  they  placed  in  his  hands  manuscripts  con- 
taining the  very  things  he  sought,  and  for  these 
the  priests  received  generous  compensation.  The 
stories  of  Deukalion  and  Prometheus — of  Adam 
and  Eve — of  Abraham  and  Sarah  followed  each 
other  in  quick  succession. 

The  demand  created  a  large  supply  and  for 
several  years  one  essay  after  another  appeared 
in  the  volumes  of  the  Asiatic  Researches.  There 
were  myths  of  classical  mythology,  and  narratives 
closely  resembling  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, all  of  which  "had  been  translated  from  the 
ancient  books  of  India"! 

Surprise  and  excitement  prevailed  in  scholarly 
circles  over  these  discoveries.  There  was  great 
excitement,  not  only  in  Calcutta,  but  also  in 
London,  Paris,  and  the  German  universities. 

The  Sanskrit  manuscripts  which  Wilford  had 
obtained  were  submitted  to  Sir  William  Jones 
and  others  who  were  considered  the  best  Sanskrit 
scholars  of  their  day,  and  they  pronounced  them 
genuine;  it  is  true  that  many  wise  men  remained 
incredulous,  but  there  were  the  manuscripts  to 
show  for  themselves,  and  the  work  went  merrily 
on. 

At  last,  however,  the  supply  corresponded  so 
exactly  with  the  amount  of  money  furnished  that 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   139 

the  documents  were  again,  and  more  carefully, 
examined.  It  was  then  found  that  clever  forgeries 
had  been  committed — that  pages  which  had  been 
aged  by  a  peculiar  process  had  been  inserted  in 
manuscripts  which  were  undoubtedly  old,  and  on 
them  the  wily  priests  had  written  the  classical  and 
biblical  stories  which  they  had  learned  from  the 
lips  of  the  enthusiastic  officer. 

Wilford,  who  by  this  time  had  become  a  Colonel, 
did  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  he  had  been  victim- 
ised. He  made  a  manly  confession  which  was  a 
warning  to  others,  and  Sir  William  Jones  openly 
admitted  that  he  also  had  been  deceived,  but  dur- 
ing the  infancy  of  Sanskrit  studies  it  had  been  easy 
to  perpetrate  this  gigantic  fraud  upon  students  of 
limited  experience. 

Says  Max  Muller: 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  at  the  present  time,  after  the 
progress  which  has  been  made  in  accurate  and  critical 
study  of  the  Sanskrit,  it  would  be  unpardonable  if 
any  scholar  accepted  as  genuine,  such  passages  as 
were  translated  by  Sir  William  Jones,  yet  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  a  further  study  may  not  lead  to 
similar  disenchantments  and  deprive  many  a  book  in 
Sanskrit  literature  of  its  high  claims  to  antiquity 
.  .  .  and  those  who  have  believed  in  their  extreme 
antiquity  will  then  be  held  up  to  ridicule  like  Sir 
William  Jones  and  Lieutenant  Wilford.1 
1  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  v.,  p.  109. 


140  Hinduism 

Teachers  of  Hinduism.  The  essays  which  had 
been  so  ignorantly  constructed  upon  a  false  basis 
were  widely  read,  and  are  still  quoted  by  people 
who  have  never  heard  of  Wilford's  confession,  or 
if  they  have  heard,  they  choose  to  ignore  it.  Not 
only  this  but  rumours  grow  as  they  spread,  and 
we  have  many  Americans  as  well  as  Europeans 
who  are  quick  to  catch  at  anything  and  every- 
thing which  seems  to  bring  discredit  upon  the 
Scriptures. 

It  is  also  true  that  Hinduism  as  taught  in  Europe 
and  America  is  very  different  from  the  genuine 
article.  These  "missionaries  from  the  Orient," 
who  are  teaching  the  milder  forms,  and  even 
misrepresentations  of  their  own  sacred  books,  are 
very  careful  to  keep  out  of  the  sight  of  beginners 
those  doctrines  and  ceremonies  which  would  at 
once  repel  clean-hearted  Anglo-Saxons. 

They  present  vague,  illusive,  and  often  attractive 
theories  without  offering  any  definite  form  of  proof, 
and  indeed  the  class  of  people  who  are  delighted 
with  any  new  fad  do  not  need  any  historical  evi- 
dence. For  instance  a  Hindu,  who  was  evidently 
a  Buddhist,  in  conversation  with  a  Chicago  lady 
discoursed  eloquently  upon  the  marvellous  pheno- 
mena produced  by  the  Mahatmas  in  the  mountains 
of  Thibet  and  elsewhere. 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   141 

At  last  she  enquired:  "How  may  I  know  posi- 
tively that  such  beings  exist?" 

Said  he :  "  Do  you  not  sometimes  have  ideas,  and 
do  not  know  where  they  come  from?" 

"Yes,"  she  quickly  answered. 

"That  is  it — there  is  the  proof  for  which  you 
ask — they  come  from  the  Mahatmas!" 

The  pathetic  feature  of  the  incident  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  she  seemed  to  be  entirely  satisfied 
with  the  proof  (?)  thus  obtained.  And  hence, 
because  so  few  people  are  willing  to  investigate 
these  things  in  a  reasonable  way,  these  teachers 
are  reaping  a  harvest  of  English,  French,  and 
American  money  while  claiming  that  even  the 
Puranas  "were  written  thousands  and  thousands  of 
years  ago"! 

There  are  foolish  women  in  some  of  our  large 
cities  who  are  actually  forcing  their  indulgent 
husbands  into  financial  ruin,  by  squandering  their 
money  in  secret,  upon  these  wily  adventurers. 
It  is  often  done  without  the  husband's  know- 
ledge, and  confession  is  sometimes  made  to  a 
friend  that  the  demands  are  constantly  growing 
larger,  and  the  victim  cannot  see  any  way  of 
escape.  But  the  work  goes  wickedly  on. 

One  of  these  "teachers"  very  truthfully  re- 
marked: "We  find  America  a  better  place  than 


142  Hinduism 

India  in  which  to  teach  Krishnaism"!  There 
is  no  valid  excuse  for  being  thus  victimised,  when 
our  libraries  contain  the  works  of  standard  authors 
on  this  subject,  but  some  of  the  admirers  of  the 
cult  have  actually  rushed  into  print  with  asser- 
tions that  make  them  the  laughing  stock  of  scholars. 

Even  if  the  doctrines  of  Hinduism  were  abso- 
lutely true,  they  never  could  be  of  the  slightest 
benefit  to  either  Europeans  or  Americans,  who 
cannot  by  any  amount  of  penance  purchase  ad- 
mission at  death  to  either  of  the  heavens — they 
cannot  become  worthy  of  recognition  by  these 
people  except  in  a  financial  way.  The  sole  benefit 
which  they  can  derive  is  the  privilege  of  admiring 
those  who  sneer  at  them  in  secret,  and  then 
continue  to  pour  their  money  into  the  pockets 
which  are  constantly  crying  for  more. 

In  vain  may  Europeans  go  to  India,  assume 
Indian  aliases,  and  return  claiming  to  be  "  swamis  " ; 
they  must  always  be  known  as  impostors,  not  only 
by  a  genuine  swami,  but  by  every  one  who  is 
at  all  acquainted  with  the  subject. 

Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams  says: 

The  truth  certainly  is  that  no  stranger  can  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  convert  to  Hinduism,  either  by  making 
any  particular  confession  of  faith,  or  by  going  through 
any  prescribed  forms.  The  only  acknowledged  mode 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   143 

of  admission  is  by  birth.     To  become  a  Hindu,  one 
must  be  born  a  Hindu.1 


And  yet,  inducements  are  held  out  which  are 
contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Hindu  religions.  Our  land  is  flooded  with  liter- 
ature which  is  well  calculated  to  deceive  the  care- 
less and  thoughtless — it  is  flooded  with  reckless 
assertions  on  this  subject  which  are  repeated  over 
and  over  again  from  the  platform,  many  of  the 
speakers  blindly  following  each  other,  without 
making  any  effort  to  find  out  for  themselves 
whether  or  not  there  is  a  particle  of  truth  in  what 
they  are  saying.  They  are  issued  in  book  form, 
in  pamphlet  form,  they  are  being  sent  out  through 
the  medium  of  the  newspapers  wherever  they  can 
find  admission  to  these  columns,  and  they  are 
going  through  the  mails  in  the  form  of  private 
correspondence,  France,  England,  Germany,  and 
Russia  being  especially  unfortunate  in  Europe, 
while  our  own  land  is  also  receiving  the  especial 
attention  of  numerous  invaders. 

Adam  and  Eve.  The  acme  of  literary  dishon- 
esty is  attained  when  so-called  "quotations"  are 
deliberately  manufactured  in  order  to  suit  a  certain 

1  Williams,  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism,  p.  98. 


144  Hinduism 

theory,  and  this  sort  of  work  has  been  done  in 
numberless  instances. 

We  now  have  stories  written  up  in  imitation  of 
Old  Testament  narratives  and  we  are  unblushingly 
told  that  these  things  " are  from  the  Veda" ! 

Extracts  from  a  parody  on  Adam  and  Eve  run 
as  follows: 

Having  created  the  man  and  woman  and  animated 
them  with  the  divine  afflatus — the  Lord  said  unto 
them:  "Behold  your  mission  is  to  the  people  of  this 
beautiful  island  [Ceylon]  where  I  have  gathered 
together  everything  pleasant,  and  needful  for  your 
subsistence."  .  .  . 

And  thus  saying,  the  Lord  disappeared  .  .  .  then 
Adima  and  Heva  dwelt  together  in  perfect  happiness: 
but  ere  long  a  vague  disquietude  began  to  creep  upon 
them.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  evil,  jealous  of  their  felicity 
and  of  the  work  of  Brahma,  inspired  them  with  dis- 
turbing thoughts.  ' '  Let  us  wander  through  the  island, ' ' 
said  Adima  to  his  companion,  "and  see  if  we  may  not 
find  some  part  of  it  more  beautiful  than  this."  .  .  . 

And  Heva  followed  her  husband  .  .  .  wandering  for 
days  and  months.  But  as  they  advanced,  the  woman 
was  seized  with  strange  terrors.  "Adima,"  said  she, 
"let  us  go  no  farther.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  are 
disobeying  the  Lord ;  have  we  not  already  quitted  the 
place  he  assigned  us  for  a  dwelling  and  forbade  us  to 
leave?" 

"Fear  not,"  said  Adima,  "this  is  not  the  fearful 
wilderness  of  which  he  spake  unto  us. " 

And  they  wandered  on  ...  arriving  at  last  at  the 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   145 

extremity  of  the  island,  the  two  wanderers  stood 
amazed;  the  country  before  them  was  covered  with 
stately  trees,  birds  of  a  thousand  colours  flitted  midst 
their  foliage. 

"Behold  what  beautiful  things,"  cried  Adima,  "and 
what  good  fruit  such  trees  must  produce!  Let  us  go 
and  taste  them,  and  if  that  country  is  better  than  this, 
we  will  dwell  there." 

Heva,  trembling,  besought  Adima  to  do  nothing 
which  might  irritate  the  Lord  against  them. 

"Are  we  not  well  here?  Wherefore  seek  other 
things?" 

"True,"  replied  Adima,  "but  we  will  come  back; 
what  harm  can  it  be  to  have  visited  this  unknown 
country  that  presents  itself  to  our  view?" 

Then  placing  his  wife  upon  his  shoulders,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  cross  the  space  that  separated  him  from  the 
object  of  his  desires. 

But  no  sooner  did  they  touch  the  shore  than  trees, 
flowers,  birds,  all  they  had  seen  from  the  opposite 
side  vanished  midst  terrific  clamour;  the  rocks  by 
which  they  had  crossed  sunk  into  the  waters,  a  few 
sharp  peaks  alone  remaining  above  the  surface.  .  .  . 
Adima  threw  himself  weeping  upon  the  sands  .  .  . 
but  Heva,  throwing  herself  into  his  arms,  besought  him 
not  to  despair.  .  .  .  "Let  us  rather  pray  to  the  Author 
of  all  good  to  pardon  us." 

The  above  is  a  bit  of  modern  fiction  from  which 
it  is  asserted  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  was 
borrowed;  it  has  been  ingeniously  prepared,  with 
variations  enough  to  give  colour  to  the  charge  of 
plagiarism,  but  nothing  of  the  sort  can  be  found  in 

xo 


146  Hinduism 

the  genuine  books  of  India,  from  one  end  to  the 
other! 

Other  parodies  have  been  perpetrated  with  the 
cool  announcement  that  ''these  things  are  found 
in  the  Bhagavad-gita "  only  the  word  is  wrongly 
spelled  by  the  impostor,  who  had  probably  never 
seen  the  book! 

Poor  France,  especially,  has  been  flooded  with 
this  sort  of  literature,  while  England  and  America 
have  by  no  means  escaped. 

Max  Muller  says  of  these  base  forgeries  and  the 
book  which  contains  them : 

Many  of  the  words  which  J quotes  as  Sanskrit, 

are  not  Sanskrit  at  all ;  others  never  have  the  meaning 
which  he  assigns  to  them;  and  as  to  the  passages 
[claimed  to  be]  from  the  Veda,  including  the  Bhaga- 
vad-gita, they  are  not  from  the  Veda,  they  are  not 
from  any  old  Sanskrit  writer — they  simply  belong 
to  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.1 

Story  of  the  Flood.  The  survivors  of  the  great 
deluge  evidently  handed  down  to  their  posterity  an 
account  of  the  leading  events  connected  therewith, 
and  hence  nearly  every  people  on  the  globe  have 
their  tradition  concerning  it.  The  same  voice 
comes  to  us  from  the  archives  of  Babylon,  from 

1  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  v.,  p.  128. 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   147 

the  clay  tablets  of  Assyria,  from  the  parchments 
of  China,  from  the  .manuscripts  of  India,  from 
the  annals  of  Greece,  and  more  recently  from 
the  temple  library  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Nippur. 

Amidst  so  many  independent  witnesses  it  is  not 
necessary  to  conclude  that  any  of  them  are  bor- 
rowed from  each  other;  like  some  of  the  others, 
however,  the  Hindu  tradition  is  so  buried  in 
mythology  that  without  other  evidence  on  the 
subject  one  would  never  conclude  that  it  was 
based  on  historic  fact. 

And  yet,  a  Hindu  priest,  writing  on  American 
soil,  unblushingly  asserts:  "The  account  of  the 
deluge  as  given  in  the  Old  Testament  has  been 
taken  from  minute  accounts  recorded  in  the 
Matsya  Purana  and  the  condensed  facts  about 
them  given  in  all  the  Puranas." 

That  is,  the  biblical  story  of  the  flood  as  re- 
corded in  the  Book  of  Genesis — one  of  the  oldest 
books  of  the  Old  Testament — "  was  taken  from  the 
Puranas,"  which  were  written  during  the  Middle 
Ages  of  the  Christian  era ! 

He  never  would  make  such  an  absurdly  false 
statement  as  this,  if  he  did  not  know  that  he  could 
place  the  most  implicit  confidence,  in  the  utter 
ignorance  of  his  devotees! 


148  Hinduism 

Abraham  and  Isaac.  One  of  the  manufactured 
quotations  above  alluded  to  is  founded  upon  this 
narrative  in  Genesis,  and  we  are  gravely  told  that : 
"This  is  the  original  from  which  the  story  of 
Abraham  and  Isaac  was  taken." 

In  this  case,  they  have  come  nearer  to  the  truth 
than  is  their  wont,  from  the  fact  that  there  is  found 
in  the  Aitareya-brahmana  a  legend  concerning  the 
offering  of  a  son. 

But  this  Brahmana  belongs  to  a  period  more 
than  a  thousand  years  this  side  of  Abraham,  and 
not  only  this,  but  the  difference  in  the  stories  is 
so  radical  and  far  reaching  that  the  idea  of  pla- 
giarism on  either  side  must  be  ignored  by  the 
careful  critic. 

The  legend  of  Sunahsepa  has  been  well  trans- 
lated by  more  than  one  scholar,  and  runs  about  as 
follows : 

King  Harischandra  had  no  son;  therefore  he 
went  to  the  great  sage,  Narada,  and  enquired, 
"What  benefit  comes  from  a  son?"  Narada 
replied : 

A  father,  by  his  son  clears  off  a  debt, 

In  him,  a  self  is  born  of  self.     The  pleasure 

A  father  has  in  his  son  exceeds 

All  other  pleasures.     Food  is  life,  apparel 

Is  protection,  gold  an  ornament; 

A  loving  wife  the  best  of  friends,  a  daughter 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   149 

An  object  of  compassion,  but  a  son 

Is  like  a  light  sent  from  highest  heaven. 

Go  then  to  Vartina,  the  god,  and  say — 
'  Let  but  a  son  be  born,  O  King,  to  me 
And  I  will  sacrifice  that  son  to  thee ! ' 

An  Indian  is  always  in  debt  to  his  forefathers 
until  he  has  a  son  of  his  own,  because  the  happi- 
ness of  the  dead  depends  upon  certain  ceremonies 
which  can  be  performed  only  by  a  son.  Those 
who  have  lived  in  India  or  have  read  authoritative 
works  on  the  subject  will  understand  why  "a 
daughter  is  an  object  of  compassion." 

According  to  the  instructions  of  the  sage,  the 
king  went  to  Varuna,  and  made  his  plea  and 
promise. 

In  due  time  a  son  was  born  who  was  named 
Rohita,  but  time  passed  on  and  still  the  king  did 
not  fulfil  his  vow,  and  at  last  the  angry  god  afflicted 
him  with  dropsy  as  a  penalty  for  the  long  delay. 

The  lad  had  now  attained  to  years  of  some 
understanding,  and  the  royal  father  explained  to 
him  the  conditions  of  his  birth  and  told  him  that 
he  must  prepare  for  sacrifice. 

Not  liking  the  prospect  before  him,  the  boy  took 
his  bow  and  arrows  and  fled  into  the  forest.  For 
six  long  years,  he  roamed  through  the  wilderness, 
living  upon  the  wild  fruits  and  what  game  he 


150  Hinduism 

could  secure,  but  still  the  sentence  of  death  was 
hanging  over  him. 

At  last  he  found  a  hermit  who  was  a  Brahman, 
but  he  was  living  in  the  wilderness  with  his  wife 
and  three  sons,  and  Rohita  entered  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  father  to  procure  a  substitute. 
The  hermit  agreed  to  sell  one  of  his  sons  for  the 
sacrifice  if  the  prince  would  give  him  a  hundred 
cows!  A  bargain  was  quickly  made,  and  Rohita 
set  off  for  home  with  the  boy,  Sunahsepa,  by  his 
side.  In  order  to  witness  the  horrible  rite,  the 
unnatural  father  went  also. 

Taking  the  victim  to  the  king,  the  prince 
explained : 

"Father,  this  boy  shall  be  my  substitute." 

Then  Harischandra  went  to  Varuna 

And  prayed:  "Accept  this  ransom  for  my  son." 

The  god  replied:  "Let  him  be  sacrificed, 

A  Brahman  is  more  worthy  than  a  king." 

The  preparations  were  made,  and  the  intended 
victim  was  led  forth. 

Four  great  Rishis,  or  sages,  officiated  as  priests, 
but  they  could  find  no  one  who  would  consent  to 
bind  the  beautiful  child  who  was  to  be  offered. 
In  this  extremity  the  barbaric  parent  again  came 
to  the  rescue,  and  for  the  sake  of  adding  to  his  large 


Imitations  of  the  Old  Testament   151 

herd  of  cattle,  he  volunteered  to  bind  his  boy  upon 
the  sacrificial  altar. 

"Give  me  a  hundred  cows  and  I  will  bind  him." 
They  gave  them  to  him  and  he  bound  the  boy. 
But  now,  no  person  would  consent  to  kill  him. 
Then  said  the  father,  "Give  me  yet  again 
Another  hundred  cows,  and  I  will  slay  him! " 

Once  more  they  gave  the  hundred,  and  the  father 
Whetted  his  knife  to  sacrifice  his  son; 
Then  said  the  child:  "Let  me  implore  the  gods, 
Haply  they  may  deliver  me  from  death/' 

So  Sunahsepa  prayed  to  all  the  gods 
With  verses  from  the  Veda,  and  they  heard  him. 
Thus  was  the  boy  released  from  sacrifice 
And  Harischandra  restored  to  health.1 

It  would  require  a  strong  imagination  to  fancy 
that  this  resembles  the  story  of  Isaac — that  the 
character  of  the  avaricious  hermit  was  like  that 
of  Abraham! 

Surely  no  one  who  has  read  both  stories  can 
suppose  for  a  moment  that  either  was  borrowed 
from  the  other,  and  possibly  it  would  not  be  too 
much  to  conjecture  that  those  who  make  these 
uncritical  assertions  have  never  read  either  of 
the  narratives  in  question! 

1  Aitareya-brah.,  Haug's  ed.t  7-13,  Williams's  trans. 


152  Hinduism 

TheGita-govinda.  Govinda  is  the  title  "Prince 
of  Cows"  which  was  given  to  Krishna  by  Indra, 
and  the  Gita  is  the  song  composed  to  describe  the 
conduct  of  Krishna  with  the  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  cowherders,  and  especially  Radha.  Some 
modern  writers  who  were  unacquainted  with  the 
true  character  of  the  Gita,  have  confidently  as- 
serted that  "The  Song  of  Solomon  was  borrowed 
from  the  Gita-govinda  " ! 

Here  we  have  another  example  of  the  reckless 
disregard  of  the  principles  of  scholarly  criticism. 
The  author  of  the  Gita-govinda  was  Jaya-deva, 
who  lived  in  India  in  the  I2th  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  many  centuries  after  the  author  of 
the  Song  of  Solomon  "slept  with  his  fathers." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

IMITATIONS  OF  THE  GOSPELS 

Modern  Productions.     King  Herod.     The  Transfiguration. 
Crucifixion.     Vivekananda. 

TT  is  true  there  are  some  similarities  to  the  Gospels 

in  the  Puranas,  which  were  written  after  the 

Gospels  had  been  in  the  world  for  more  than  a 

thousand  years,  but  they  are  so  slight  that  few 

of  them  are  considered  worthy  of  critical  notice. 

Attention  has  been  called  to  a  story  in  the 

Bhagavata-purana    to   the   effect    that    Krishna 

healed  a  deformed  woman  who  prayed  him  to 

allow  her  to  anoint  him  with  saffron  and  sandal: 

He  took  compassion  upon  her  and  placed  his  two 
feet  upon  her  two  feet,  and  his  two  fingers  beneath 
her  chin,  and  raised  her  up  so  that  she  became  quite 
straight,  and  by  the  touch  of  Krishna,  she  became 
young  and  beautiful. 

Thus  far,  this  might  possibly  be  an  echo  of  Mark 
xiv.,  and  Luke  xiii.,  but  the  rest  of  the  story 
is  decidedly  incongruous,  and  not  at  all  com- 

153 


154  Hinduism 

plimentary  to  Krishna.  Orientalists  assign  the 
Bhagavata-purana  to  the  I2th  century  of  the 
Christian  era. 

As  with  the  Old  Testament,  however,  so  also 
with  the  New,  we  now  have  speakers  and  writers 
who  furnish  carefully  prepared  imitations,  not  of 
the  original  texts,  which  they  know  nothing 
about,  but  of  King  James's  version,  giving  even  the 
idioms  and  peculiarities  of  this  translation,  and 
then  assert  that  these  very  modern  parodies  "were 
derived  from  the  ancient  books  of  India"! 

Books  are  widely  circulated  in  England  and  on 
the  Continent,  especially  in  France,  as  well  as  in 
America,  which  have  many  paragraphs,  and  some- 
times whole  chapters,  in  imitation  of  incidents  in 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  these  manufactured  quota- 
tions are  boldly  credited  to  the  Bhagavad-gita! 

There  are  several  translations  of  the  Gita  in  our 
large  libraries  and  some  of  them  have  been  pre- 
pared by  Hindu  scholars,  but  a  careful  examination 
of  even  half  an  hour  will  convince  any  one  that 
there  is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  Hindu  book 
from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  would  have  been 
nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  these  things  are  found 
in  Webster's  Dictionary,  for  the  words  at  least 
are  there,  and  that  is  more  than  we  can  say  for  the 
"Divine  Song"  of  India. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         155 

Bhagavad-gita  is  crudely  spelled  by  this  class 
of  writers,  each  of  them  apparently  guessing  at  the 
orthography  from  a  different  standpoint,  but  they 
usually  come  near  enough  to  the  title  so  that  one 
can  understand  what  they  mean. 

Far  less  fortunate  are  those  pretenders  to 
Oriental  lore  who  talk  and  write  about  "The 
Ramazand,  or  Hindu  New  Testament/'  as  no 
such  book  is  known  to  scholars,  and  the  pretended 
quotations  from  it  are  simply  forgeries  of  texts 
which  are  found  only  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
sometimes  not  even  there,  the  copying  having  been 
incorrectly  done. 

If  they  would  take  the  trouble  to  read  the 
Gospels,  it  might  save  them  from  the  blunder 
of  asserting  that  certain  things  "were  borrowed 
from  the  sacred  books  of  India"  which  are  not 
to  be  found  in  either  the  one  or  the  other! 

What  can  we  say,  for  instance,  when  it  is 
declared  that  "The  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon 
Mary  in  the  form  of  a  dove"?  And  that  "this 
statement  was  taken  from  the  Bhagavad-gita"? 

It  is  confidently  declared  that:  "Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth borrowed  his  morals,  his  doctrines,  and  even 
his  name  from  one  Jezeus  Christna  of  the  Hindus  " ! 

The  name  of  Krishna  is  thus  misspelled  ap- 
parently for  the  purpose  of  confounding  his 


156  Hinduism 

name  with  that  of  the  Messiah.  But  the  word 
Christ  means  "anointed"  while  Krishna  means 
"black"  or  "dark  coloured."  The  vast  difference 
in  the  signification  of  the  names  makes  it  impossi- 
ble for  scholars  to  suspect  any  kinship  between 
the  two. 

And  yet,  in  defiance  of  all  the  principles  of 
philology,  one  author  declares:  "In  Sanskrit, 
Kristna,  or  rather  Christna,  signifies  'messenger  of 
God,  promised  of  God,  sacred/  etc."  If  he  had 
known  the  meaning  of  the  word  Christ  he  would 
of  course  have  said  that  "Christna  in  Sanskrit 
means  'anointed'"! 

Another  of  the  same  class  and  equally  ignorant 
asserts:  "Christna  as  well  as  Buddha  [enlightened] 
means  shepherd"!  Still  another  of  the  same 
reckless  sort  declares:  "Krishna  means  the  sun"! 

In  relation  to  Jezeus,  one  author  pretends  to 
quote  from  the  Bhagavad-gita  as  follows:  "They 
named  him  Jezeus,  that  is  to  say  the  pure  divine 
essence"!  Of  course  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind 
in  the  Gita,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  but  on 
another  page  of  the  same  book  we  are  assured: 
"The  name  of  Jesus,  or  Jezeus,  was  in  ancient 
India  the  consecrated  epithet  assigned  to  all  in- 
carnations"! 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  there  is  no  such  name 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         157 

as  Jezeus  in  Sanskrit — no  name  like  it  in  the 
language,  and  Max  Muller  declares  that  "it  was 
simply  invented1'  by  the  author  in  question.1 

The  above  manufactured  quotations  in  relation 
to  "  Jezeus'*  are  taken  from  a  French  work  which 
has  been  widely  circulated  in  English  translation 
both  in  England  and  America.  Poor  France  is 
flooded  with  this  spurious  literature,  the  same 
author  having  contributed  more  than  twenty 
volumes  to  the  work  of  wilfully  deceiving  the  pub- 
lic. He  claims  that  our  civilisation,  our  religion, 
our  legends,  and  even  our  God,  have  come  to  us 
from  India  after  passing  in  succession  through 
Egypt,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Italy!  "And  this 
statement,"  he  boldly  asserts,  "has  been  admitted 
by  almost  all  Oriental  scholars"! 

He  does  not  specify  any  one  of  them  for  the 
best  of  reasons.  He  knows,  if  he  knows  anything 
at  all  about  the  subject,  that  no  scholar  would 
admit  anything  of  the  sort — he  knows  that  such 
assertions  are  not  made  by  learned  men,  but  are 
propagated  by  people  who  wilfully  deceive  the 
ignorant  and  unsuspecting  victims  of  their  false- 
hoods! 

His  allegations  that  "the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments are  found  in  the  Veda,"  he  proves  (?)  by 

1  Max  Muller,  Trans.  Vic.  Inst.  voL,  xxi.,  p.  179. 


158  Hinduism 

such  forgeries  as  his  parody  on  Adam  and 
Eve.1 

In  relation  to  these  colossal  falsehoods,  Prof. 
F.  Max  Muller  says:  "No  one  acquainted  with 
Sanskrit  or  Pali  literature  can  doubt  for  a  single 
moment  that  all  of  these  so-called  'translations' 
from  ancient  Sanskrit  text  are  mere  inventions."2 

Although  Krishna  is  one  of  the  later  products  of 
Indian  fancy,  having  attained  his  popularity  as  a 
god  in  the  Middle  Ages  of  the  Christian  era,  still 
there  are  people  who  know  nothing  of  the  subject 
and  are  not  willing  to  learn,  who  are  reckless 
enough  to  rush  into  print  with  the  assertion: 
"  Krishna  lived  3000  years  before  Christ,  and 
taught  everything  that  Christ  taught"!  And 
still  this  writer  has  steadily  turned  away  from 
sources  of  information  on  this  subject  which  are 
within  easy  reach  in  the  libraries! 

All  sorts  of  pretenders  to  Indian  wisdom  are 
asserting  that  "Krishna  was  born  of  a  virgin/' 
and  this  too  in  direct  violation  of  the  teaching  of 
standard  Hindu  works  on  the  subject.3  Surely 
even  a  myth  ought  to  be  honestly  represented! 
Although  the  most  revolting  descriptions  of  the 
immorality  of  this  god  are  given  in  the  native 

1  See  p.  144.       a  Max  Muller,  Last  Essays,  Second  Series,  p.  95. 
3  See  p.  104. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         159 

classics,  which  are  devoted  to  his  glorification,  we 
are  now  assured  that  "Krishna  lived  chastely 
and  prescribed  chastity,"  and  "Indeed  Chris- 
tianity would  have  sunk  into  oblivion  ages  ago, 
if  the  authors  of  the  Gospels  had  not  incorporated 
into  their  works  the  sublime  morale  of  Christna"! 
When  such  brazen  falsehoods  can  be  uttered  and 
published  without  fear  of  contradiction  from  the 
masses,  surely  it  is  time  for  the  masses  to  learn 
some  of  the  facts  in  the  case ! 

King  Herod.  It  is  possible  that  we  may  have 
an  imitation  of  the  character  of  King  Herod  in 
Kansa,  who  is  represented  in  the  Puranas  as  a 
murderous  tyrant.  It  is  said: 

After  the  marriage  of  Vasu-deva  and  Devaki  ...  a 
voice  from  the  sky  addressed  Kansa  and  said,  "The 
eighth  child  of  the  damsel  shall  take  away  your  life. " 
On  hearing  this,  Kansa  drew  his  sword  and  was  about 
to  put  Devaki  to  death;  but  Vasu-deva  interposed 
saying:  "Kill  not  Devaki,  and  I  will  deliver  to  you 
every  child  she  shall  bring  forth."  Appeased  by  the 
promise  Kansa  desisted  from  the  attempt.1 

Afterward,  Kansa  was  again  warned  by  Narada, 
but  agreeably  to  his  promise  Vasu-deva  delivered 
to  the  tyrant  each  child  as  soon  as  it  was  born, 

1  Vishnu-purana,  p.  493. 


160  Hinduism 

to  the  number  of  six,  these  having  been  the  off- 
spring of  the  demon  Hieranyakasipu. 1 

Bala-rama  appears  to  have  been  the  first  son 
of  Devaki  who  was  the  child  of  her  husband  and 
he  was  saved  by  being  transferred  to  the  womb 
of  another  wife  by  the  name  of  Rohina.  When 
Krishna,  the  eighth  child  of  his  mother,  was  born, 
his  father  exchanged  him  with  Yasoda  for  her 
daughter. 

When  Kansa  was  told  that  a  daughter  had  been 
born  to  Devaki  he  went  to  the  home  of  Vasu-deva, 
and  seizing  the  infant,  he  threw  her  against  a  stone; 
but  the  child  rose  into  the  sky  and  expanded  into  a 
gigantic  figure  having  eight  arms,  each  wielding 
a  powerful  weapon.  This  terrific  being  laughed 
aloud  and  said:  "What  avails  it  to  thee  to  have 
hurled  me  to  the  ground?  He  is  born  who  shall 
kill  thee.  .  .  .  Now  quickly  secure  him  and  provide 
for  thine  own  welfare." 

Kansa,  much  troubled  in  mind,  summoned  his 
chiefs  to  counsel : 

Now  Chiefs  of  the  Daitya  race  .  .  .  the  goddess  has 
been  born  who  has  announced  to  me  that  he  is  again 
alive  who  in  a  former  birth  was  my  death.  Let 
therefore  active  search  be  made  upon  the  earth,  and 
let  every  boy  in  whom  there  are  signs  of  unusual 
vigour  be  slain  without  remorse.2 

1  Vish.-pur.,  p.  498.  *Ibid.t  503-4. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         161 

The  Bhagavata-purana  tells  the  story  somewhat 
differently,  but  they  both  describe  "Nanda  and 
the  rest"  as  paying  tribute  or  taxes  to  Kansa. 
And  as  the  Gospels  had  been  carried  to  India 
hundreds  of  years  before  these  books  were  written, 
it  is  not  impossible  that  we  have  here  a  mutilated 
echo  of  the  narrative  found  in  Matt.  ii. 

The  Transfiguration.  It  is  occasionally  claimed 
that  the  sublime  scene  on  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration "was  borrowed  from  the  Bhagavad- 
gita,"  which  must  have  been  written  many  years 
afterward. 

There  has  been  considerable  discussion  con- 
cerning the  age  of  the  Gita.  Prof.  Max  Muller 
places  it  in  what  he  terms  the  "Renaissance 
period  of  Indian  literature,"  the  beginning  of  which 
he  places  at  about  300  A.D.  Sir  Monier  Monier- 
Williams  says  of  the  author:  "He  is  supposed  to 
have  lived  in  India  about  the  second  or  third 
century  of  our  era."1  We  might  also  quote 
Weber,  Lassen,  Lorinser,  and  others.  But  in  the 
eagerness  to  make  a  point  by  those  who  have 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Gospels  were 
borrowed,  little  anachronisms  of  one  or  two  cen- 
turies are  considered  entirely  unworthy  of  notice. 

1  Williams,  Hind.,  p.  207. 


162  Hinduism 

The  stubborn  fact  of  the  later  origin  of  the 
Hindu  song  is  not  the  only  reason  why  the  Gos- 
pels could  not  have  borrowed  from  it;  the  dis- 
similarities between  the  two  are  so  striking  that 
no  one  could  suppose  that  either  was  taken  from 
the  other. 

It  is  very  true,  as  our  best  scholars  admit,  that  in 
making  translations  from  the  Sanskrit,  the  great 
temptation  was  to  choose  only  the  most  beautiful 
portions  of  the  works  before  them ;  not  only  this, 
but  the  constant  tendency  of  a  refined  and  poetic 
nature  is  to  improve  whatever  passes  through 
his  hands. 

Max  Muller  says : 

Whether  I  am,  myself,  one  of  the  guilty  ones  or  not, 
I  cannot  help  calling  attention  to  the  real  mischief 
which  has  been  done,  and  is  still  being  done,  by  the  en- 
thusiasm of  those  pioneers  who  have  opened  the 
first  avenues  through  the  bewildering  forest  of  the 
sacred  literature  of  the  East.  They  have  raised 
expectations  which  cannot  be  fulfilled,  fears  also, 
which,  as  will  readily  be  seen,  are  ungrounded.1 

Oriental  poetry  is  indeed  largely  indebted  to 
the  eloquence  of  the  English  translators,  who  in 
many  cases  have  given  it  a  beauty  far  above  that 
which  is  found  in  the  versions  of  the  native 
linguists. 

1  Max  Muller,  Int.  Upanishads,  S.  B.  E. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         163 

But  let  us  not  therefore  censure  our  scholars; 
it  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  to  present 
the  best  possible  phases  of  the  work  which  is 
passing  through  our  hands,  and  the  most  beautiful 
myths  of  the  Orient  have  gained  a  new  radiance 
under  the  poetic  touch  of  modern  workers. 

In  The  Light  of  Asia  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  was 
writing  poetry,  not  history,  and  surely  no  one 
could  be  more  astonished  than  he  to  learn  that 
many  members  of  a  wonder-loving  public  have 
imagined  his  fancies  to  be  facts! 

He  read  into  a  part  of  Buddha's  story  beautiful 
sentiments  of  which  the  primitive  Buddhists 
never  heard,  and  lo!  in  some  minds  it  was  immedi- 
ately supposed  that  "this  is  Buddhism"! 

As  Sir  Edwin  has  illumined  The  Light  of  Asia 
with  a  borrowed  radiance,  as  Fitzgerald  has  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  harmonious  numbers  of  the 
Rubaiyatj  so  also  has  the  Bhagavad-gita  received 
a  wonderful  beauty  in  passing  through  the  hands 
of  Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams,  who  translates  as 
follows: 

Having  thus  said,  the  mighty  Lord  of  all 
Displayed  to  Arjuna  his  form  supreme, 
Endowed  with  countless  mouths  and  countless  eyes, 
With  countless  faces  turned  to  every  quarter, 
With  countless  marvellous  appearances — 


164  Hinduism 

With  ornaments,  and  wreaths,  and  robes  divine, 
With  heavenly  fragrance  and  celestial  weapons. 

It  was  as  if  the  firmament  were  filled, 
All  in  an  instant  with  a  thousand  suns, 
Blazing  with  dazzling  lustre;  so  beheld  he 
The  glories  of  the  universe  collected 
In  the  one  person  of  the  God  of  gods. 

Arjuna,  with  every  hair  on  his  body  bristling 
with  awe,  bows  his  head  at  this  vision,  and  folding 
his  hands  in  reverence,  gives  utterance  to  a  passion- 
ate outburst  of  enthusiastic  adoration,  which  is 
here  abridged: 

I  see  thee,  mighty  Lord  of  all,  revealed 
In  forms  of  infinite  diversity. 
I  see  thee  like  a  mass  of  purest  light, 
Flashing  thy  lustre  everywhere  around. 

I  see  thee  crowned  with  splendour  like  the  sun 

Pervading  earth  and  air  immeasurable, 

Boundless,  without  beginning,  middle,  end, 

Preserver  of  imperishable  law, 

The  everlasting  man;  the  triple  world 

Is  awestruck  at  this  vision  of  thy  form 

Stupendous,  indescribable  in  glory.1 

The  late  Mr.  Justice  Kashinath  Trimbak  Telang, 
of  the  Bombay  High  Court,  has  given  us  a  literal 
translation  of  the  Gita,  and  the  strength  of  the 

1  Gita,  chap,  xi,  Williams,  Hind.,  p.  215. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         165 

position  regarding  the  poetic  work  of  English 
scholars  cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by 
giving  Judge  Telang's  prose  version  of  the  scene 
which  has  just  been  quoted  from  Williams.  The 
celebrated  Hindu  linguist  translates  as  follows: 

Arjuna  stood  before  him  with  bowed  head,  his  hair 
standing  on  end,  and  said:  "O  god  I  see  your  body; 
the  gods,  as  also  all  the  groups  of  various  beings,  and 
the  Lord  Brahman  on  his  lotus  seat,  and  all  the  sages 
and  celestial  snakes.  I  see  you,  who  are  of  countless 
forms,  possessed  of  many  arms,  stomachs,  mouths, 
and  eyes,  on  all  sides.  ...  I  see  you  void  of  beginning, 
middle,  end,  of  infinite  power,  having  the  sun  and 
moon  for  eyes;  having  a  mouth  like  blazing  fire,  and 
heating  the  universe  with  your  radiance.  .  .  .  Looking 
at  this  wonderful  and  terrible  form  of  yours,  0  high- 
souled  one!  the  three  worlds  are  affrighted,  for  here 
these  groups  of  gods  are  entering  into  you  .  .  .  seeing 
your  mighty  form  with  many  mouths  and  eyes,  with 
many  arms  and  thighs,  and  feet — with  many  stom- 
achs, and  fearful  jaws,  all  people,  and  I  likewise,  are 
much  alarmed.  Seeing  your  mouths,  terrible  by 
reason  of  the  jaws  and  resembling  the  fire  of  destruc- 
tion, I  cannot  recognise  the  various  directions. 

All  the  bands  of  kings  .  .  .  together  with  our 
principal  warriors  also,  are  rapidly  entering  into  your 
mouths,  fearful  and  horrified.  .  .  .  And  some  of  their 
heads  are  seen  to  be  stuck  in  the  spaces  between  the 
teeth.  As  the  rapid  currents  of  the  river's  waters 
run  toward  the  sea  alone,  so  do  these  heroes  of  the 
human  world  enter  your  mouths,  blazing  all  around. 


i66  Hinduism 

.  .  .  Swallowing  all  these  people,  you  are  licking 
them  over  and  over  from  all  sides  of  your  blazing 
mouths! r 

This  is  the  literal  translation  by  the  noted 
Hindu  scholar  of  the  so-called  "transfiguration 
of  Krishna"!  This  is  the  description  which  some 
men  dare  assert  is  similar  to  the  scene  on  the 
Mount  when:  "His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun, 
and  his  garment  was  white  as  the  light " ! 

The  Crucifixion.  Every  possible  effort  has 
been  made  to  prove  that  leading  events  in  the 
life  of  Christ  "were  borrowed  from  the  story  of 
Krishna."  In  furtherance  of  this  scheme  it  has 
even  been  asserted  that  Krishna  was  crucified,  and 
this  too  in  the  face  of  the  assertion  in  several  of 
their  sacred  books  to  the  effect  that  Krishna  was 
shot  by  a  hunter  who  mistook  him  for  a  wild 
animal!  This  statement  is  made  in  the  Maha- 
bharata  and  is  repeated  in  their  standard  works 
as  late  as  the  nth  and  I2th  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era. 

The  author  in  writing  to  Sir  Monier  Monier- 
Williams  not  long  before  his  death,  alluded  among 
other  things  to  the  modern  claim  that  Krishna 

1  Gita,  chap,  xi.,  Telang's  trans.,  pp.  93-130. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         167 

was  crucified,  but  the  eminent  savant  replied: 
"I  know  nothing  of  this  absurd  myth!" 

But  although  it  had  never  until  then,  reached 
the  higher  circles  of  scholarship,  the  story  was, 
and  is,  freely  circulated  by  irresponsible  writers 
and  speakers  both  in  England  and  America  as 
well  as  on  the  Continent.  Only  now  and  then, 
however,  do  we  find  those  who  have  the  temerity 
to  assure  their  dupes  that  "Christna  was  crucified 
between  two  thieves,  descended  into  hell,  rose 
from  the  dead,  and  ascended  into  heaven"!  And 
also:  "Both  Hindu  and  Christian  New  Testa- 
ments record  that  at  the  crucifixion  of  these  two 
Saviours  there  was  darkness  and  convulsions  of 
nature"! 

We  are  not  only  told,  in  plain  contradiction  of 
the  Hindu  authorities,  that  "Krishna  was  cruci- 
fied, "  but  scholars  are  actually  censured  for  keep- 
ing this  important  information  (?)  from  the  world! 

An  English  author  says : 

Neither  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  nor  in  the  works  of  Sir  William  Jones  is 
there  a  single  word  to  be  met,  concerning  the  cruci- 
fixion of  Krishna !  How  strange  that  all  these  writers 
should  be  ignorant  of  so  startling  a  fact ! 

This  last  sentence  is  in  italics,  and  the  charge  is 
boldly  made,  both  here  and  elsewhere,  that  Orient- 


168  Hinduism 

alists  have  deliberately  and  dishonestly  withheld 
this  important  fact  (?)  from  the  people! 

We  are  also  assured  that  Ixion,  Prometheus, 
and  Buddha  were  crucified!  The  high  school 
pupils  know  that  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the 
classics  concerning  either  Ixion  or  Prometheus, 
and  as  for  Buddha,  so  far  from  being  crucified, 
he  died  in  consequence  of  eating  too  much  pork! 

A  full  account  of  his  illness  and  subsequent 
death  from  this  cause  is  found  in  the  Maha- 
parinibbana  Suttana,  or  Book  of  the  Great  Decease. r 
This  is  considered  the  oldest  and  most  reliable  of 
the  Buddhist  works,  and  being  one  of  the  series 
of  "The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  it  is  now 
available  to  the  English-speaking  world. 

But  what  matters  it,  so  far  as  the  Gospel  history 
is  concerned,  if  all  these  and  more  had  been 
represented  as  having  suffered  thus? 

Indeed  one  author  coolly  declares:  "They  were 
all  crucified  except  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was 
never  on  a  cross"!  Not  only  this,  but  he  claims 
to  prove  his  baseless  assumption  by  forging 
quotations  (?)  from  Irenaeus,  one  of  the  early 
Christian  Fathers,  who  was  born  about  one  hund- 
red and  fifty  years  after  Christ.  Irenaeus,  who 
enunciates  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  almost  the  very 

1  Maha-parinibbana  Suttana,  chap.  iv. 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         169 

words  in  which  it  is  to-day  recited  in  our  churches ! 
Irenaeus,  who  writes  of  "Our  Lord,  of  his  cross  and 
his  passion" — of  his  "having  suffered  under 
Pontius  Pilate" — Irenaeus,  whose  entire  work  of 
two  large  volumes  was  written  in  defence  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christ — who  quotes  the  old  Testa- 
ment prophecies  as  pointing  to  the  birth,  cruci- 
fixion, and  resurrection  of  our  Lord! x  An  author 
could  not  be  more  grossly  misrepresented  than  in 
this  case. 

Vivekananda.  During  the  World's  Parliament 
of  Religions,  held  in  Chicago  in  1893,  this  Hindu 
priest  stood  up  in  a  crowded  hall  and  in  violation 
of  all  the  rules  of  the  Congress,  which  decreed 
that  no  speaker  should  in  any  way  reflect  upon 
others,  he  said:  "I  am  told  that  the  American 
people  are  so  'liberal*  that  they  will  stand  criti- 
cism." Then  he  outraged  every  principle  of 
courtesy  and  politeness  to  his  hosts,  by  proceeding 
to  pour  out  sneers  and  bitter  denunciations  upon 
our  missionaries  to  India.  "If  they  want  to  help 
our  people,"  he  shouted,  "why  don't  they  send 
them  something  to  save  their  starving  bodies?" 

Vivekananda  either  knew,  or  he  ought  to  have 

'See  Irenaeus,  vol.  i.,  pp.  297,  300,  301,  303,  304,  311,  346; 
also  vol.  ii.,  pp.  70,  139,  183,  184,  etc. 


170  Hinduism 

known,  that  England  and  America  had  sent 
millions  of  money  and  cargoes  of  grain  to  "save 
their  starving  bodies" ! — had  sent  it  in  response  to 
appeals  from  these  same  Christian  missionaries 
whom  he  was  then  slandering!  And  since  that 
time  other  millions  of  money  and  other  cargoes 
of  grain  have  been  sent  from  the  same  sources  in 
response  to  other  pleas  from  the  same  philan- 
thropic men  and  women. 

During  the  famine  of  1896-7,  three  years  after 
his  insulting  assaults  upon  the  best  friends  India 
has  ever  had,  not  less  than  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
were  sent  from  Christian  countries  for  the  relief 
of  that  hungry  and  priest-ridden  people. 

Vivekananda  either  knew,  or  he  ought  to  have 
known,  that  there  were  no  hospitals  in  India  until 
they  were  built  under  Christian  influence,  and  by 
Christian  money.  He  either  knew,  or  he  ought 
to  have  known,  that  the  natives  died  like  flies, 
near  the  palaces  of  the  rajas,  with  no  hand  to  even 
give  them  a  drink  of  water,  until  they  were  cared 
for  by  heroic  men  and  women  who  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  Him  who  "went  about  doing  good." 
Vivekananda  either  knew,  or  he  ought  to  have 
known,  that  men,  women,  and  children  had  been 
saved  from  torture  and  from  death  by  these  same 
loyal  souls.  He  either  knew,  or  he  ought  to  have 


Imitations  of  the  Gospels         171 

known,  that  the  women  medical  missionaries 
from  Christian  lands  have  carried  to  the  women 
of  India  timely  relief  from  untold  and  unnoted 
agonies. 

Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows  gladly  added  his 
enthusiastic  testimony  to  that  of  many  other 
travellers  concerning  the  unselfishness  and  devo- 
tion of  our  missionaries  in  India,  while  Theodore 
Roosevelt  and  William  Howard  Taft  give  enthusi- 
astic praise  to  the  results  of  their  valiant  efforts  in 
other  lands. 

It  is  not  "liberality  "  which  induces  our  people  to 
applaud  these  speakers,  when  they  malign  and 
misrepresent  the  heroes  who  have  gone  at  Ameri- 
ca's bidding  to  heal  and  relieve  the  suffering 
millions  of  India.  It  is  not  "liberality"  which 
induces  them  to  countenance,  by  their  repeated 
presence,  any  speaker  who  attacks  the  character 
of  the  Christ — who  induces  them  to  believe  stories 
which  are  a  slander  upon  his  name.  Let  us  not 
confuse  our  terms — it  is  not  "liberality,"  it  is 
treachery! 

What  should  we  think  of  a  man  who  would  go 
repeatedly  and  gladly  listen  to  a  speaker  who 
ridiculed  or  slandered  his  mother,  or  other  things 
which  are  even  more  sacred?  Should  we  think 
that  he  had  any  right  to  go  around  admiring 


172  Hinduism 

himself,  and  boasting  of  his  " liberality"?  God 
help  the  men  and  women  who  are  willing  to  give 
their  time,  and  their  money,  to  those  who  are 
doing  their  utmost  to  bring  shame  and  reproach 
and  dishonour  upon  "the  only  name  under  heaven, 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved. " 


CHAPTER  IX 

HINDUISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Historic  Christ.     Alleged  Life  in  India.     Contrasts.     Non- 
Christian  Bibles.     The  Triumphant  Christ. 

IT  is  freely  charged  that  the  Messiah  is  a  sun-god 
—that  his  personality  is  fictitious,  and  has 
been  borrowed  from  the  son-gods  of  Babylonia,  of 
Egypt,  of  India  or  Persia ;  they  are  not  at  all  certain 
where  it  has  been  borrowed  from,  but  both  history 
and  literature  have  been  grossly  misrepresented 
by  irresponsible  writers  on  this  subject.  It  re- 
quires only  a  little  fair  investigation,  however,  to 
expose  the  falsity  of  their  claims. 

The  historical  proofs  of  the  existence  of  the 
Christ  cannot  be  given  within  a  small  compass;  it 
would  require  a  volume  to  adequately  treat  the 
various  lines  of  evidence  on  this  point,  but  one 
thought,  at  least,  may  be  suggested  and  this  is 
self-evident. 

Whoever  stops  to  think  at  all,  must  be  aware  of 
the  fact  that  about  nineteen  hundred  years  ago 


174  Hinduism 

some  being  appeared  upon  this  earth  who  had 
influence  enough  to  change  the  chronology  of  the 
whole  civilised  world,  and  if  it  were  not  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  surely  it  is  time  to  enquire  who  it  may 
have  been. 

The  world  no  longer  counts  time  from  A.  U.  C. 
(Anno  Urbis  Condita),  the  year  in  which  the  City 
(of  Rome)  was  founded,  and  only  among  certain 
peoples  does  any  one  attempt  to  reckon  from  the 
time  of  the  Creation. 

The  standard  time  measurement  is  from  B.C. — 
Before  Christ;  and  A.D. — Anno  Domini,  in  the  Year 
of  Our  Lord. 

Hence  every  time  an  unbeliever  dates  a  letter, 
or  any  other  document,  he  testifies  to  the  truth  of 
the  first  coming  of  the  historic  Christ — he  bears 
witness  to  the  fact  that  it  has  been  nineteen 
hundred  years,  and  more,  since  he  came  and 
changed  the  chronology  of  the  nations,  besides 
leaving  in  a  thousand  other  ways  the  impress  of 
his  undying  influence  upon  the  world.  This 
great  fact  is  only  one  witness  in  the  case,  but  even 
this  is  enough  for  reliable  historical  purposes. 

Alleged  Life  in  India.  Even  while  declaring  on 
the  one  hand  that  "no  such  person  as  Christ  ever 
existed, "  the  same  class  of  speakers  at  other  times, 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        175 

and  before  different  audiences,  are  glibly  asserting 
that:  "He  spent  his  youth  in  India,  where  he 
learned  his  Gospel  from  the  priests"!  In  some 
instances  both  these  positions  are  taken  by  the 
same  author,  in  the  same  volume,  but  little 
inconsistencies  like  these  being  considered  un- 
worthy of  notice,  no  effort  is  made  towards  a 
reconciliation. 

One  man  in  Chicago  published  a  book  to  prove 
that  no  such  being  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ever  ex- 
isted, and  afterward  delivered  a  lecture  to  prove 
that  Jesus  was  a  Socialist!  And  still  his  blind 
followers  were  entirely  unable  to  see  any  con- 
tradiction between  the  two  positions! 

In  relation  to  India,  the  argument  at  first  ran 
like  this:  "No  one  knows  where  Christ  was  during 
a  certain  period  of  his  life,  therefore  he  must  have 
been  in  India"! 

But,  after  a  time,  even  its  advocates  were 
enabled  to  understand  that  this  sort  of  logic  was 
not  quite  consistent,  and  in  order  to  save  the 
theory,  it  became  necessary  to  manufacture  "posi- 
tive proof"  on  this  subject. 

Hence  it  was  claimed  that  certain  documents 
have  been  "discovered"  among  Tibetan  manu- 
scripts, giving  an  account  of  the  "Life  of  Issa  in 
India,"  and  some  people  talk  about  "The  Un- 


176  Hinduism 

known  Life  of  Christ"  with  as  much  assurance  as 
others  will  sometimes  discourse  on  "The  Secret 
Will  of  God"! 

It  is  true  that  it  would  not  take  a  clever  pandit 
long  to  prepare  such  a  manuscript  on  pages  which 
had  been  properly  "  aged,"  but  it  has  not  been  neces- 
sary for  the  Hindus  to  take  the  trouble  to  do  so. 
This  time  the  crime  lies  at  the  door  of  a  European, 
and  while  some  other  evidence  (?)  has  been  manu- 
factured, the  most  ingenious  work  of  the  kind  is 
that  of  a  cunning  Russian  who  produced  a  bit  of 
fiction  which  was,  and  is,  very  attractive  to  his 
dupes.  It  has  passed  through  eleven  editions  in 
poor  France,  some  of  whose  people  are  eagerly 
looking  for  something  of  the  sort,  and  it  was 
translated  into  English  before  any  one  found  time 
to  make  a  long  and  difficult  journey,  in  order  to 
either  verify  the  truth  of  the  story,  or  to  expose  a 
wilful  fraud. 

To  be  sure  it  never  deceived  scholars,  for,  as 
Max  Muller  said:  "One  might  as  well  look  for 
the  waters  of  the  Jordan  in  the  Brahmaputra,  as 
for  a  life  of  Christ  in  Tibet." 

There  is  much  internal  evidence  which  betrays 
the  true  character  of  the  book  to  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  the  analysis  of  evidence,  but  many 
have  been  found  who  were  entirely  deceived 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        177 

by  this  gross  imposition,  and  some  of  them  were 
very  jubilant  over  it,  especially  the  younger 
generation  of  Hindus  who  were  being  educated 
at  the  expense  of  the  British  Government. 

This  class  is  well  represented  by  the  editor  of  a 
Bengali  paper,  who  greeted  the  "find"  as  "clear 
proof  that  Christianity,  like  Buddhism,  is  simply 
an  offshoot  from  Hinduism,  and  that  Jesus  Christ 
learned  his  doctrines  from  the  Brahmans"! 

It  is  true  there  is  a  space  in  the  history  of  Christ, 
and  every  possible  advantage  has  been  taken  of  this 
absence  of  data.  The  author  of  this  fraudulent 
work  asserts  that  during  that  time  Christ  was  in 
India — that  he  studied  Sanskrit  and  Pali,  that 
he  read  the  Vedas  and  the  Buddhist  canon,  and 
then  returned  to  Palestine  to  preach  the  gospel 
which  he  had  thus  learned  from  these  sources. 

This  writer  claims  to  have  gone  to  the  Buddhist 
monastery  at  Himnis,  where  he  held  long  philo- 
sophical conversations  with  the  chief  Lama,  and 
strange  to  say,  his  interpreter  on  this  occasion  was 
a  Shikari! 

The  Kashmeri  Shikari  [says  Joldan]  is  invariably  a 
man  whose  knowledge  of  language  is  limited  to  his 
native  tongue,  and  a  few  words  of  Urdu  and  English, 
relating  to  the  necessities  of  the  road,  the  camp, 
and  sport,  picked  up  from  the  English  and  their 
attendants. 


178  Hinduism 

The  Russian  claims  to  have  received  from  the 
Chief  Lama  long  historical  allusions,  and  compli- 
cated philosophical  speculations.  He  quotes  the 
Chief  Lama  as  saying,  "The  documents  brought 
from  India  to  Nepal,  and  from  Nepal  to  Tibet, 
concerning  Issa's  existence,  are  written  in  the  Pali 
language,  and  are  now  at  Lassa;  but  a  copy  in 
our  language,  that  is  Tibetan,  exists  in  this 
convent." 

It  was  while  he  was  laid  up  in  the  convent  with 
a  broken  leg  that  he  had  the  opportunity  to  quote 
so  freely  from  these  documents,  which  were 
generously  translated  to  him  for  this  purpose  by  an 
ignorant  peasant ! 

Finding  that  these  statements  were  often  ac- 
cepted by  people  who  do  not  investigate  for 
themselves,  Mr.  J.  Archibald  Douglas,  a  professor 
in  the  Government  College  at  Agra,  decided  to  give 
the  matter  a  thorough  sifting.  With  this  object  in 
view,  he  went  to  the  Himnis  monastery,  and  found 
the  Superior  to  be  a  venerable  man  who  had  been 
so  long  in  office  that  he  must  have  been  the 
man  interviewed  by  the  Russian,  if  there  had  been 
any  truth  in  his  story. 

But  when  portions  of  the  book  in  question 
were  translated  to  the  old  chief,  he  repeatedly 
exclaimed  indignantly:  "Sun,  sun,  sun,  manna 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        i?9 

dug!"  which  is  Tibetan  for  "Lies,  lies,  lies,  and 
nothing  else!" 

The  old  gentleman  was  most  courteous,  and 
evidently  truthful,  but  he  was  justly  indignant 
at  the  fraud  which  had  been  so  deliberately 
perpetrated.  Prof.  Douglas  asked  many  ques- 
tions of  him,  and  others  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  became  entirely  satisfied  that  no  Russian  with 
a  broken  leg  had  ever  been  there,  and  no  such 
document  as  he  described  had  ever  been  in  the 
convent,  or  had  been  heard  of  there. 

A  sufficient  statement  was  made  out,  and  it  was 
then  sworn  to  by  the  Chief  Lama  in  the  presence 
of  Archibald  Douglas  and  Mr.  Shamwell  Joldan, 
the  late  postmaster  of  Ladakh,  and  the  official 
papers  were  sent  to  Prof.  F.  Max  Muller. 

Not  long  before  his  death  the  great  philologist 
wrote  a  magazine  article  on  this  subject  in  which 
he  says: 

After  the  complete  refutation,  or  I  should  say  the 

annihilation  of  N by  Mr.  Douglas,  there  does  not 

seem  to  be  any  excuse  for  trying  to  spare  the  feelings 
of  the  venturesome  Russian  traveller  (?).  He  was  not 
hoaxed,  he  tried  to  hoax  us. 

Mr.  Douglas  has  sent  me  the  original  papers,  con- 
taining the  depositions  of  the  Chief  Priest  of  the  mon- 
astery of  Himnis,  and  of  his  interpreter,  and  I  gladly 
testify  that  they  entirely  agree  with  the  extracts 


i8o  Hinduism 

given  in  the  article,  and  are  signed  and  sealed  by  the 
Chief  Lama,  and  by  Mr.  Joldan,  formerly  postmaster 
at  Ladakh,  who  acted  as  interpreter  between  the 
priests  and  Mr.  Douglas. 

I  ought,  perhaps,  to  add  that  I  cannot  claim  any 
particular  merit  in  having  proved  the  Life  of  Christ 
taken  from  MSS.  in  the  monasteries  of  Tibet  to  be  a 
mere  fiction.1 

Contrasts.  However  familiar  Christ  may  have 
been  with  the  doctrines  of  Hinduism,  it  is  certain 
that  he  never  taught  them  and  every  system  has 
a  right  to  demand  that  it  be  judged  by  the  teach- 
ing of  its  own  sacred  books. 

Even  in  the  morning  of  its  life  when  it  was 
simple  nature  worship  it  was  not  only  different — 
it  was  opposite  in  its  substance  to  God's  truth,  even 
though  all  religions  may  still  retain  some  traces 
of  the  primitive  revelation  made  to  mankind. 

(i)  It  is  the  sound,  the  intonation  of  the  sacred 
Sanskrit  as  well  as  of  the  sacred  Arabic,  which  is  of 
primary  importance  and  efficacy.  Hence  millions 
of  people  have  been  obliged  to  hear,  and  many 
of  them  have  been  compelled  to  repeat,  the  Veda, 
following  the  intonations  of  the  teacher,  when  they 
had  no  conception  of  the  meaning  of  the  passages 
recited. 

The  books  of  the  Bible,  on  the  other  hand,  de- 

1  Max  Muller,  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  xxxix.,  pp.  667-678. 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        181 

mand  the  closest  attention  of  the  student,  and  in 
order  to  be  of  benefit,  their  meaning  must  be  taken 
into  the  hearts,  and  lived  out  in  the  lives  of  men! 

(2)  Both  the  Hindus  and  Arabs  were  opposed  to 
the  translation  of  their  sacred  books,  the  Brahmans 
especially  doing  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  pub- 
lication, even  in  Sanskrit,  while  Christian  men 
and  women  are  making  great  efforts  by  the  ex- 
penditure of  both  time  and  money  to  spread  the 
good  news  of  the  Gospel.  So  far  from  hiding  the 
Book  from  the  fires  of  investigation,  the  closest 
examination  is  invited  everywhere  in  the  world 
of  letters,  and  not  only  this  but  the  hosts  of 
criticism  are  often  led  by  reverent  believers. 

Great  sacrifices  have  been  made,  and  are  being 
made,  to  further  the  colossal  work  of  carrying  this 
great  civiliser  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 
Savage  dialects  have  been  reduced  to  grammar  for 
the  first  time,  by  enthusiastic  missionaries,  who 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  task,  and  so  faith- 
fully has  the  enterprise  been  pushed  that  trans- 
lations have  been  made,  either  of  the  whole,  or  of 
some  portions  of  the  Book  into  about  five  hund- 
red and  fifty  different  languages  and  dialects,  and 
its  circulation  is  constantly  increasing. 

The  science  of  philology  will  always  be  indebted 


182  Hinduism 

to  those  who  have  thus  led  the  way  in  intellectual 
as  well  as  ethical  progress. 

(3)  In  the  Veda  the  historical  element  is 
wholly  wanting.  In  all  of  this  mass  of  literature, 
there  is  not  a  single  reliable  historical  event, 
which  will  enable  scholars  to  assign  it  to  its  proper 
place  in  the  world's  history,  and  as  we  have  no 
Indian  manuscripts  which  extend  farther  back 
than  the  Middle  Ages,  it  is  no  wonder  that  Orient- 
alists find  it  difficult  to  bridge  over  this  chasm,  of 
possibly  two  thousand  years! 

But  the  races  of  the  Old  Testament  are  promi- 
nent figures  in  history,  and  not  only  this,  but  the 
statements  there  made  have  been  illustrated  and 
verified  by  the  spade  of  the  explorer.  Ancient 
cities  there  described,  which  were  sometimes 
pronounced  "mythical,'*  have  been  identified, 
and  the  very  language  of  the  old  inscriptions  has 
helped  to  elucidate  difficult  passages  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible. 

Says  Prof.  A.  H.  Sayce,  of  Oxford  University: 
"Between  the  history  of  the  monuments,  and  the 
history  of  the  Bible,  there  is  perpetual  contact ;  and 
the  voice  of  the  monuments  is  found  to  be  in  strict 
harmony  with  that  of  the  Old  Testament."  x 

1  Sayce,  Assyria,  Her  Princes  and  People,  p.  16. 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        183 

(4)  The  books  of  Hinduism  reveal  no  concep- 
tion of  man's  nature,  while  Our  Father  "remem- 
bereth  that  we  are  dust." 

(5)  Hinduism  claims  that  we  should  crush  out 
all  emotion — love  as  well  as  hatred,   and  even 
indifference  (if  possible)  should  be  avoided. 

But  the  Master  saith:  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind  .  .  .  and  thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  On  these  two  com- 
mandments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets." 

(6)  The  gods  of    Hinduism  care   nothing    for 
the  world — they  take  no  interest  in  humanity, 
according  to  their  own  exponents. 

On  the  other  hand:  "Are  not  five  sparrows  sold 
for  a  farthing,  and  not  one  of  them  is  forgotten 
before  God.  .  .  fear  not  therefore,  ye  are  of  more 
value  than  many  sparrows." 

(7)  The  books  of  Hinduism  admonish  men  to 
get  rid  of  the  trials  and  temptations  of  life.     But 
the  Bible  says:  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth 
temptation,  for  when  he  is  tried,  he  shall  receive 
the  crown  of  life,  which  the  Lord  hath  promised  to 
them  that  love  him. " 

(8)  Hinduism  admonishes  us  to  get   rid  of  all 


184  Hinduism 

action,  while  practical  Christianity  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  wholesome  activity : 

"My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work.  .  .  . 
By  their  works,  ye  shall  know  them." 

(9)  Hinduism   teaches  its  devotees   to  sit   for 
years  in  one  painful  posture,  until  the  limbs  wither, 
and  the  nails  grow  through  the  back  of  the  hand. 
In  this  attitude  they  command  the  admiration  of 
the  passers-by. 

But  under  the  mission  of  the  Christ  the  blessing 
is  given  to  those  who:  "For  my  name's  sake  hast 
laboured  and  hast  not  fainted. " 

(10)  The  priests    of    Hinduism    sell    to    their 
victims,  water  from  the  so-called  "Well  of  Puri- 
fication"— water  reeking  with  the  stench  of  cor- 
ruption and  laden  with  the  germs  of  disease. 

But  the  Christ  offers  "without  money  and  with- 
out price"  water  from  the  "Wells  of  Salvation." 
"Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  never  thirst,  but  it  shall  be  in  him 
a  well  of  water  springing  up  to  everlasting  life. " 

(n)  Hinduism  says:  "Perform  penance,  and 
accumulate  merit." 

But  the  Bible  says:  "By  grace  are  ye  saved, 
and  that  not  of  yourselves.  It  is  the  gift  of  God, 
not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should  boast. " 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        185 

(12)  Hinduism  says:  "Get  rid  of  suffering — get 
rid  of  feeling." 

But  the  Apostle  says:  "We  glory  in  tribulation, 
knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  patience,  and 
patience  hope." 

(13)  Hinduism  says:  "Get  rid  of  the  body." 
But  the  Bible  says:  "Know  ye  not  that  your 

body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  in 
you?" 

(14)  Hinduism  teaches  men  to  seek  annihilation 
as  the  only  refuge  from  repeated  rebirths — teaches 
its  devotees  to  seek  eternal  death! 

But  the  biblical  admonition  is:  "Seek  for  glory, 
immortality,  eternal  life!" 

(15)  The  priests  of  Hinduism  spend  their  time 
in  washing,  dressing,  painting,  and  worshipping 
idols — in  bringing  oblations,  even  of  food,  to  gods 
of  wood  and  stone. 

But  the  servants  of  the  Living  God  are  working 
night  and  day  for  the  welfare  of  the  race. 

(16)  All  the  history   of   Hinduism   is  marked 
by   continual   and    increasing    degradation, — the 
modern   systems    containing  vileness  that  could 
not  be  entertained  by  the  writers  of  the  early 
Songs  of  the  Vedas. 


i86  Hinduism 

But  in  God's  plan,  whatever  race  is  willing  to 
follow,  is  led  onward  and  upward,  from  the  object- 
lessons  in  the  wilderness,  to  the  triumphant  mis- 
sion of  the  Christ. 

God's  book  records  the  sin  of  the  first  man,  but 
it  advances  calmly  and  surely  to  the  one  great 
end — the  conquest  of  wrong  by  him  who  "  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light." 

It  moves  with  stately  step  from  Eden  lost,  to 
Eden  regained,  and  closes  with  a  splendid  pano- 
rama of  victory. 

The  Non-Christian  Bibles.  Some  traces  of 
God's  primeval  revelation  to  man  are  found  among 
all  peoples  and  in  all  creeds,  but  F.  Max  Muller,  in 
his  address  before  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  said: 

Let  us  teach  Hindus,  Buddhists,  and  Mohammedans 
that  there  is  only  one  "Sacred  Book  of  the  East" 
that  can  be  their  mainstay  in  that  awful  hour,  when 
they  pass  alone  into  the  unseen  world.  It  is  that 
Sacred  Book  which  contains  the  saying  that  "Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners" 

He  also  admonishes  students  to  examine  care- 
fully the  faith  of  other  nations,  for,  he  says : 

We  shall  learn  to  appreciate  better  than  ever  before 
what  we  have  in  our  own  religion.  No  one  who  has 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        187 

not  examined  patiently,  and  honestly,  the  other  reli- 
gions of  the  world  can  know  what  Christianity  really  is, 
or  can  join  in  such  truth  and  sincerity  in  the  words  of 
St.  Paul:  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

And  again: 

Let  us  see  what  other  nations  have  had,  and  still 
have,  in  place  of  religion ;  let  us  examine  the  prayers, 
the  worship,  the  theology,  even  of  the  most  highly 
civilised  races — the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  the  Hindus, 
the  Persians,  and  we  shall  then  understand  more 
thoroughly  what  blessings  have  been  vouchsafed  to 
us,  in  being  allowed  to  breathe,  from  the  first  breath 
of  life,  the  pure  air  of  Christian  light  and  knowledge. 

We  are  too  apt  to  take  the  greatest  blessings  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  even  religion  forms  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  We  have  done  so  little  to  gain  our  reli- 
gion— we  have  suffered  so  little  in  the  cause  of  truth, 
that  however  highly  we  prize  our  Christianity,  we 
never  prize  it  highly  enough,  until  we  have  compared 
it  with  the  religions  of  the  rest  of  the  world.1 

Sir  Monier  Monier- Williams,  the  Boden  Pro- 
fessor of  Sanskrit  at  Oxford  University,  was  the 
author  of  eighteen  standard  works  and  trans- 
lations in  the  domain  of  Indian  wisdom  one  of 
them  being  our  great  Sanskrit  and  English  Dic- 
tionary. After  devoting  fifty  years  of  his  life  to  this 
subject,  he  said : 

We  welcome  these  books.     We  ask  every  missionary 
to  study  their  contents  .  .  .  but  we  warn  him  that 
1  Max  Muller,  Chips,  vol.  i.,  pp.  48,  180. 


i88  Hinduism 

there  can  be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  force  these 
non-Christian  bibles  into  conformity  with  some 
degree  of  development,  and  then  point  to  the  Christ- 
ian's Holy  Bible  as  the  crowning  point  of  religious 
evolution ! 

So  far  from  this,  the  non-Christian  bibles  are  all 
developments  in  the  wrong  direction,  they  all  begin  with 
some  flashes  of  light,  and  end  in  utter  darkness. 

I  know  that  to  confess  sympathy  with  this  sort  of 
development  is  to  win  applause  from  certain  classes 
in  these  days  of  religious  toleration  and  free  trade; 
but  I  maintain  that  this  flabby,  jellyfish  kind  of 
tolerance  is  utterly  incompatible  with  the  nerve  and 
backbone  that  ought  to  characterise  a  manly  Christian. 
The  Christian's  character  ought  to  be  just  what  the 
Bible  intended  it  should  be.  Take  that  sacred  Book 
of  ours ;  handle  reverently  the  whole  volume ;  search  it 
through  from  the  first  chapter  to  the  last,  and  mark 
well  the  spirit  that  pervades  the  whole. 

You  will  find  no  limpness,  no  flabbiness  about  its 
utterances.  Even  sceptics  who  dispute  its  authority 
are  ready  to  admit  that  it  is  a  thoroughly  manly  book. 
Vigour  and  Manhood  breathe  on  every  page.  It  is 
downright  and  straightforward — bold  and  fearless, 
rigid  and  uncompromising.  It  tells  you  and  me  to  be 
either  hot  or  cold.  If  God  be  God,  serve  him;  if  Baal 
be  God,  serve  him. 

We  cannot  serve  both — we  cannot  love  both. 
"Only  one  name  is  given  among  men  whereby  we  may 
be  saved."  No  other  Saviour  more  suited  to  India, 
Persia,  China,  or  Arabia  is  ever  mentioned. 

The  unparalleled  declarations  of  our  Holy  Bible 
make  a  gulf  between  it  and  the  so-called  "Sacred  Books 
of  the  East"  which  sever  the  one  from  the  other,  utterly, 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        189 

hopelessly,  and  for  ever.  Not  a  mere  rift,  across  which 
the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian  may  shake  hands, 
and  interchange  similar  ideas  in  regard  to  essential 
truths,  but  a  veritable  gulf  which  cannot  be  bridged 
by  any  science  of  religious  thought — yes  a  bridgeless 
chasm,  which  no  theory  of  evolution  can  ever  span. 

Go  forth  then,  ye  missionaries  in  your  Master's 
name.  Go  forth  into  all  the  world,  and  after  studying 
all  of  its  false  religions  and  false  philosophies — go 
forth  and  fearlessly  proclaim  to  suffering  humanity 
the  plain,  the  unchangeable,  the  eternal  facts  of  the 
Gospel! 

Dare  to  be  downright,  with  all  the  uncompromising 
courage  of  your  own  Bible,  while  with  it  your  watch- 
words are  love,  joy,  peace,  and  reconciliation.  Be 
fair,  be  charitable,  be  Christlike,  but  let  there  be  no 
mistake.  Let  it  be  made  absolutely  clear  that  Christ- 
ianity cannot,  must  not,  be  watered  down  to  suit  the 
palate  of  either  Hindu,  Buddhist,  or  Mohammedan; 
and  that  whosoever  wishes  to  pass  from  any  false 
religion  to  the  true  can  never  do  so  by  the  rickety 
plank  of  compromise,  or  by  the  help  of  faltering 
hands,  held  out  by  half-hearted  Christians.  He  must 
leap  the  gulf  in  faith,  and  the  living  Christ  will  spread 
his  everlasting  arms  beneath,  and  land  him  safely  on 
the  Eternal  Rock!1 

The  Triumphant  Christ.  "Let  not  your  hearts 
be  troubled,"  God's  eternal  truths,  like  His  eternal 
stars,  shine  on,  for  ever  above  and  beyond  the 
feeble  attacks  of  man. 

1  Williams,  Trans.  Vic.  Inst.,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  302. 


190  Hinduism 

The  world  hath  many  sages,  but  only  one  Sav- 
iour. The  story  of  the  Christ  was  prefigured  in 
the  very  morning  of  time,  when  the  constellations 
of  the  cross  flashed  their  glories  down  upon  the 
new-born  earth.  What  wonder  that  the  children 
of  men  learned  to  love  the  sacred  symbol,  even 
before  they  understood  its  meaning? 

The  centuries  come,  and  the  centuries  go,  but 
the  Cross  still  bends  in  southern  skies;  and  in  our 
own  heavens  the  Great  Northern  Cross  is  still  set 
with  her  crown  jewels.  These  are  the  twofold 
promise  and  prophecy  of  redemption,  written  in 
letters  of  living  light,  where  all  the  races  of  the 
world  may  read  their  sublime  message. 

With  nothing  to  fear,  and  nothing  to  hide, 
Christianity  presents  as  her  model,  a  character  who 
hath  no  rival  in  the  world's  history.  Under  the 
leadership  of  the  Great  Captain  of  our  Salvation, 
she  shall  carry  her  banners  to  victory  on  the  glory- 
crowned  heights  of  God's  eternal  mountains.  Far 
over  and  above  the  worship  of  the  dark  idols, 
there  stands  the  ever-living  Son  of  God.  From 
his  stainless  life,  and  cruel  cross,  the  hope  of  the 
world  was  born.  One  sentence  from  his  lips,  if 
lived  out  in  the  lives  of  men,  would  for  ever  banish 
the  pages  of  wrong  and  fraud  and  cruelty  from  our 
tear- wet  and  blood-stained  earth.  One  touch  from 


Hinduism  and  Christianity        191 

his  hand  hath  broken  the  cold  seal  of  the  death- 
angel,  and  brought  immortality  to  light.  One 
mark  of  his  footstep  left  in  earth's  tomb  illumines 
its  portals  with  the  glorious  promise  of  life.  One 
word  from  his  lips  shall  lead  his  risen  host  to  the 
fountains  of  living  waters,  that  flow  from  under- 
neath the  Great  White  Throne. 

He  is  "the  bright  and  the  morning  star"  who 
shall  crown  with  glory  the  long  dark  night  of 
time.  He  is  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  with  heal- 
ing in  his  rays.  He  shall  banish  darkness  and 
sorrow  and  pain — he  shall  conquer  death,  and 
illumine  with  light  and  life  and  love  the  coming 
ages  of  God's  eternal  years. 


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INDEX 


Abode  of  love,  76 

Abraham  and  Sarah,  the  story 

of,  138,  148 
Accad,  ancient,  n 
Achilles,  the  heel  of,  no 
Adam  and  Eve,  the  story  of, 

138,  143,  158 
Adherents,  number  of,  46 
Aditya,  the  sun,  5 
Agama-prakasa,  64 
Aghoris,  the,  64,  116 
Agni,  the  fire  god,  5,  82 
Agra,  college  at,  1 78 
Aitareya  Brahmana,  quoted,  40, 

43,  151 

America,  converts  in,  17,  67; 

relief  by,  171 
Ananda,  85 
Animal  food,  19 
Anno  Domini,  174 
Anno  Urbis  Condita,  174 
Anu,  the  god,  1 1 
Anglo-Saxon  admirers,  4 
Ansumati  River,  103 
Apostles'  Creed,  the,  168 
Arabic,  the  sacred,  180 
Archaeological  survey  of  India, 

the,  76 

Arishto,  the  demon,  106 
Arjuna,  no,  163 
Arka  plant,  the,  86 
Arnold,  Sir  Edwin,  163 
Aryans,  Hindu,  4,  89 
Ashva-medha,  100 
Assyria,    monotheism   of,    10; 

tablets  of,  147 
Atheism,  39 
Austin,  Judge  Henry,  quoted, 

75 
Avatars,  doctrine  of  the,  49 


Babylon,  archives  of,  146 
Badshah,    B.    R.,    quoted,    27, 

94,  98 

Baijnath,  Lala,  quoted,  19,  124 
Bala-rama,  97,  101,  no,  160 
Bali,  the  demon,  97 
Banyan  tree,  the,  84 
Barrows,  Dr.  J.  H.,  quoted,  20, 

48,  63,  83,  171 
Benares,  28,   73;  Buddha  at, 

33,  48;  Kali  in,  68 
Bengal,  Kali  in,  68;  Gurus  in, 

119 

Bentinck,  Lord  William,  54 
Bhagavad-gita,  103,  146,  153 
Bhagavata    Purana,    94,    109, 

116,  123,  132,  154,  161 
Bhakti,  or  faith,  123 
Bhandarkar,  R.  G.,  quoted,  94 
Bhattacharya,   J.    N.,    quoted, 

15,  19,  64,  68,  115,  117 
Bibles,  non-Christian,  186 
Bilva,  the,  84 
Bodhisattva,  the,  29 
Bodhi  tree,  or  Bo-tree,  30 
Bodisat,  the,  37 
Bombay,  Maharajas  of,  124 
Bo-tree,  the,  85 
Brahma,  the  god,  56,  82 
Brahman,   the  spirit,   9,  165; 

every  priest  a,  16;  tyranny  of 

the,  19;  divinity  of  the,  23, 

40;  Arjuna  assisted  by,  in 
Brahmanas,  the,  15,  57 
Brahmanism,  the  creed  of,  9, 

I4t   93 '»   pantheism   of,    31; 

in  the  seventh  century,  49; 

modification  of,  50 
Brindavan,  milkmaids  of,  116 
British  Bible  Society,  the,  186 


197 


I98 


Index 


British   government,    the,    65, 

98,  177 

Buddha's  hell,  37 
Buddha,  atheism  of,  40;  death 

of,    41;    cremation    of,    43; 

Krishna  and,  98 ;  meaning  of, 

156;  crucifixion  of,  168 
Buddhas,  series  of,  26 
Buddhism   against   caste,    32; 

no  creator  in,  39;  expelled 

from  India,  48;  influence  of, 

50;  liberty  in,  93 
Burma,  serpent  worship  in,  41 ; 

Buddhism  in,  46 
Burnouf,  66 

Calcutta,  Kali  in,  68;  Lieuten- 
ant Wilford  in,  137 
Caranamrita,  125 
Chellas,  army  of,  118 
Caste,  15;  sins  against,  22 
Ceremonies,  62 
Ceylon,  serpent  worship  in,  41 ; 

bridge  at,  79 
Chandra,  or  Rama,  99 
Chicago,  devotion  meetings  in, 

41;     Dharmapala     in,     33; 

World's  congress  at,  48,  169; 

address  in,  49 

Childers's  Pali  Dictionary,  45 
Child  weddings,  7 
China,    idea    of   God    in,    12; 

Buddhism  in,  47 
Christ,  the  historic,   173;  the 

triumphant,  189 
Christianity,  93 
Christna,  156,  167 
Colebrook,  53 
Commentaries  on  Hindu  Law, 

19 

Confucianism,  47 
Contrasts,  180 
Cremation  of  Buddha,  43 
Crooke,  W.,  quoted,  66 
Crucifixion,  the,  166 
Cunningham,  General,  quoted, 
76 

Daitya  race,  the,  160 
Das,  Devendra,  quoted,  87 


Davids,  T.  W.  Rhys,  quoted, 

35,  45 

Deb,  Raja  Radhakant,  51 
Decease,  book  of  the  great,  42, 

168 

Dehunuka,  the  demon,  101 
Demons  and  devils,  78 
Deukalion    and     Prometheus, 

story  of,  138 

Deva-duta  Sutta,  the,  38 
Deveka,  102,  159 
Devotees,  modern,  69 
Dhamma-pada,  quoted,  34,  37, 

38,  40 

Dharmapala,  33 
Dhyan,  69 
Dipankara,  26 
Divine  mother,  the  76 
Divine  song,  the,  1 54 
Douglas,   J.  A.  Prof.,  quoted, 

178 

Draupadi,  Princess,  103 
Durga,  67,  69,  75 
Dvaraka,  city  of,  109, 112 

Eggling,  Julius,  quoted,  15 
Egypt,  historical  records  of ,  1 1 ; 

God  worshipped  in,  n,  20 
Egyptian  mythology,  2 
El,  10;  meaning  of,  14 
Ender,  the  mighty,  59 
Euphrates,  the  valley  of  the,  10 
Europe,  Hinduism  in,  67 

Famine  in  India,  170 

Fanatics  in  Europe  and  Ameri- 
ca, 127 

Fergusson,  James,  quoted,  82 

Fitzgerald,  James,  161 

Flood,  the,  4;  story  of  the,  146 

France,  spurious  literature  in, 
157 

Ganga,  daughter  of  Himavat,  2 
Ganesa,  the  god,  82 
Ganges,  the  sacred,  2,  27,  100 
Gautama,  the,  26,  85;  birth  of, 

27;  teaching  of,  33;  rebirths 

of,  35;  death  of,  42 
Gaya,  the  city  of,  84 


Index 


199 


Genesis,  book  of,  147 

Gita-govinda,  the,  152 

God,  the  idea  of,  9;  the  true,  1 1 ; 

union  with,  47 
Golden  child,  the,  9 
Goloka,  gate  of,  76 
Gopis,  the,  106 
Gospels,    Puranas    similar   to 

the,  153 

Gossains,  the,  122 
Goswami,  the,  122 
Gotama,  27 
Govinda,  Prince,  106 
Grand  Lama,  the,  41 
Great    Northern    Cross,    the, 

190 

Great  Renunciation,  the,  28 
Gujerati  work,  64 
Guru,  the  Yoga,  56,  65;    the 

modern,  117 

Hanuman,    the    monkey   god, 

79,99 

Harischandra,  King,  148 

Harivansa,  the,  107 

Hea,  10 

Hebrew  Bible,  the,  182 

Hell,  belief  in,  25;  Buddha's, 

37 

Hercules,  the  Indian,  101 

Herod,  King,  159 

Himalaya  Mountains,  the,  60 

Himnis,  monastery  at,  177 

Hindu,  the,  3;  literature,  4; 
the  orthodox,  9 

Hinduism,  a  composite  system, 
3;  pollutions  of,  7;  develop- 
ment of,  50;  teachers  of,  140 

Hiranyakasipu,  the  demon,  104, 
1 60 

Holy  Ghost,  the,  155 

Hommel,  Dr.  Fritz,  quoted,  13 

Human  flesh,  eating,  64 

Idolatry,  phases  of,  72 
Idol  worship,  41,  72,  114 
India,  the  land  of  contrasts,  i ; 
Buddhism  in,  48;  expulsion 
from,  48;  literature  of,  134; 
legends     from,     157;     mis- 


sionaries to,  169;  alleged  life 

in,  174 

Indore,  Justice  of,  122 
Indra-prastha,  in 
Indra,  the  storm  god,  5,   59, 

82,  103,  105 

Irenaeus,  quotations  from,  1 68 
Isaiah,  prophecy  of,  n 
Issa  in  India,  Life  of,  175 
Ixion,  1 68 

agan-nath,  temple  of,  76 

ainism,  47,  49 

ambavati,  107 

ambu  tree,  Lord  of  the,  74 

apan,  Shintoism  in,  40;  Budd- 
hism in,  47 
Jataka  Book,  the,  34 
Jaya-deva,  117,  123,  152 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,   155     168, 

174 

Joldan,  Shamwell,  170 
Jones,  Sir  William,  q.    ted,  j 

138,  167 

Kaira,  town  of,  80 

Kala,  or  time,  85 

Kali,  the  altars  of,   8;  SI 

wife,  67 ;  shrine  of,  75 
Kalpa,  meaning  of,  26 
Kalki  or  Kalldn,  98 
Kama-deva,  the  god,  82 
Kanara,  the  demon,  78 
Kansa,    King,    104,    117,    15* 

1 60 

Karma,  33 
Kartik,  month  of,  84 
Kaulika,  68 
Kaveri,  the  river,  77 
King  James,  version  of,  154 
Koti,  meaning  of  a,  26 
Krishna  Das  Babaji,  65 
Krishna,  eulogy  of,  7;  the  dark 

god,  97;  Indra  praises,  106; 

wives  of,  107;  death  of,  109; 

healing  by,  153;  meaning  of, 

156 

Krishna  Vasudeva,  102 
Krishna  worship,  modern,  113 
Kunda,  42 


2OO 


Index 


Kurma,  the  tortoise,  95 
Kusa  grass,  83 

Ladakh,  179 

Lalita-Vistara,  quoted,  27,  28 
Lanman,  Dr.  Chas.  R.,  quoted, 

123 

Lassa,  documents  at,  178 
Lassen,  quoted,  161 
Legge,  Dr.  James,  quoted,  12, 

Light  of  Asia,  the,  163 
London   Daily    News,     quoted, 

125 

Lorinser,  quoted,  161 
Luke,   parable  in,  quoted,  33; 
Gospel  of,  153 

Mackenzie,  Colonel  Colin,  134 
Maha-parinibbana      Suttana, 

quoted,  42,  168 
Maharaja  of  Benares,  101 
Maharaja,  the,  124 
Mahatmas,  the,  140 
Maha-bharata,  quoted,  103, 168 
Maha-vagga,  quoted,  32,  38,  43 
Mandara  Mountain,  95 
Mango  Tree,  Lord  of  the,  74 
Mantra,  meaning  of,  118 
Manu,  the  code  of,  23,  24,  57, 
72,  83;  birth  of,  57;  quota- 
tion from,  87 
Mara,  the  Evil  One,  39 
Mark,  Gospel  of,  153 
Marriages,  86 
Maruts,  the,  6 
Mary,  the  Virgin,  155 
Maspero,  on  monotheism,  n 
Mathura,  ruler  of ,  117 
Matsya,  the  Fish,  95,  147 
Matthew,  Gospel  of,  161 
Maya-devi,  28 

Metchizedek,  devotion  of,  14 
Menes,  II 

Messiah,  the,  156,  173 
Metempsychosis,  33 
Mitra,  the  sun,  5 
Mitra,  R.  L.,  quoted,  30 
Modern  productions,  153 
Mohammedanism,  47 


Mohammedan  burying- 

grounds,  64;  invaders,  74 
Monkey  Temple,  the,  74 
Monotheism,  traces  of,  8,  1 1 
Moshka,  70 

Mountain  of  snow,  the,  2 
Muller,     Professor     F.     Max, 
quoted,  4,  9,    12,  45,  53,   133, 
134,  157,  162,  176 

Nanda,  161 

Narada,  the  Sage,  149,  159 

Nara-sinha,  the  Man-Lion,  96 

Negrito  aborigines,  the,  3 

Neptune  of  the  Hindus,  6 

New  York,  Hinduism  in,  67 

Nile,  the,  2,  10 

Nippur,  the  ruins  of,  147 

Nirguna,  in 

Nirvana,  30,  44 

Nominal  Christianity,  47 

Nu,  the  god,  n 

Oldenberg,  Dr.  H.,  quoted,  37 
Om,  the  Omnipotent,  67 
Orientalists,  Congress   of,    98; 

123;  opinions  of  the,  5,  12, 

1 02 

Oriental  poetry,  162 
Orissa,  temple  in,  62,  76 

Padma-purana,  the,  135 

Palestine,  Christ  in,  177 

Pali  terminology,  33 

Panca-gavya  penance,  83 

Pan-supra,  125 

Pantheism,  14 

Pantheon,    the   Buddhist,   40, 

131 

Pan-nirvana,  45 

Parsu-rama,  97 

Patanjali,  54 

Pava,  Buddha  at,  42 

Petrie,  W.  M.  F.,  quoted,  II 

Philosophy,  system  of,  30 

Pipal  tree,  the,  85,  100 

Polytheism,  n,  39 

Pontius  Pilate,  169 

Prakriti,  the,  116 

Priesthood,  offerings  to  the,  14 


Index 


201 


Prometheus,  168 

Puranas,   the,    7,   49,   66,   92, 

7  34 

Puri,  temples  at,  76 
Purusha-sukta,  the,  10;  Puru- 

sha,  57 

Radha,  67,  107,  116,  152 

Raghunandana,  53 

Raja-yoga,  56 

Ramabai,  Pandita,  88 

Rama,  79,  92,  98 

Rama  Krishna  order,  the,  70 

Ramazand,  the,  155 

Ramayana,  the,   79,  97 

Ramlila  festival,  100 

Ram  Sarana  Pal,  119 

Rassam,  quoted,  10 

Ravanna,  99 

Reed,  Hindu  Literature,  quoted, 

100 

Revelations,  the  book  of,  98 
Rig-veda,  the,  4,  6,  103,  134; 

hymns  of  the,  16 
Rome,  founding  of,  174 
Rohina,  160 
Rohita,  149 

Roman  Church,  the,  41 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  171 
Royal  Asiatic  Society,  the,  167 
Rubaiyat,  the,  163 
Rudra,  the  storm-god,  59 
Rudras,  the,  6 
Ruminiki,  108,  116 
Rupee,  value  of  the,  126 

Sacred  animals,  82 

Sacred  books  of  the  East,  168, 
1 88 

Sacrifice,  human,  7 

Sakasink,  27 

Sakyamuni,  47 

Sanskrit,  poetry  in,  2;  hell  de- 
scribed in,  25;  literature  in, 
158 

Sankhya,  54 

Santapana,  83 

Satapatha  Brahmana,    quoted, 

59 

Sati  abolished,  88 


Sausse,  Sir   Matthew,   quoted, 

124 
Sayce,  Professor  A.  H.,  quoted, 

182 

Sen,  Ishan  Chandra,  65 
Serpent  worship,  41,  80 
Seshadri,  Narayan,  125 
Shaivism,  40,  92 
Shaktas,  the,  64,  70 
Shakti  of  Shiva,  63 
Shaktism,  40,  67,  93 
Shami,  or  acacia,  86 
Shesha,  the  serpent,  101 
Shikari,  Kashmeri,  177 
Shintoism,  40 
Shiva,  the  god,  56,  58,  61,  114, 

122;  temples  of,  73 
Sight  restored,  120 
Sita,  99 

Siva  or  Shiva,  58 
Solomon,  Song  of,  152 
Soul,  non-existence  of  the,  33; 

the  passing  of  the,  7 
South  Arabia,  inscriptions  of, 

13 

Sri-rangam,  shrine  of,  77 
Suddhodana,  27 
Sudra,  16 

Sukhavati-vyhua,  quoted,  27 
Sun,  names  given  the,  5 
Sunahsepa,  legend  of,  148 
Surya,  the  sun,  5 
Swami,  the,  17,  122,  129 

Taft,  William  H.,  171 
Tantras,  the,  65,  68 
Tantriks,  the,  64,  116,  121 
Tantrism,  40,  93 
Taoism,  47 
Tathagata,  42 
Telang,  Justice,  quoted,  164 
Ten  incarnations,  the,  94 
Thasng,  Hiouen,  48 
Theories,  combination  of,  4 
Ti,  the  Chinese  god,  12 
Tibet,  manuscripts  of,  175 
Transfiguration,  the,  161 
Translators,  the  work  of,  134 
Transmigration    of   souls,    20, 

22 


2O2 


Index 


Trees  and  plants,  deified,  84 
Trichinopoly,  rock  of,  74 
Trinatra,  the  Buddhist,  77 
Tulasi,  the  shrub,  84 
Tusita  heavens,  the,  36 

Upanishad,  the  first,  21 
Upanayana,  ceremonies  of,  85 
Upasaka,  39 
Urdu,  language  of,  1 77 
Ushas,  goddess  of  the  morning, 
6 

Vaishnaya,  the,  63,  115,  121 

Vaishnaism,  92 

Vallabh  sect,  the,  123 

Vamana,  the  dwarf,  97 

Varaha,  the  boar,  96 

Varuna,  the  god,  6,  82,  149 

Vasudeva,  102,  159 

Vata  tree,  Lord  of  the,  75 

Veda,  the  only  true,  9;  second 
division  of  the,  15;  third 
division  of  the,  2 1 ;  burning 
widows  sanctioned  by  the, 
52;  the  Guru  in  the,  117; 
forgeries  in  the,  139;  his- 
torical element  in,  182 

Vedaism,  4;  gods  of,  51 

Vedas,  the  songs  of  the,  2; 
lack  of  chronology  in,  4 

Vidyapati,  117 

Virag,  57 

Vivekananda,  20,  64,  83,  130, 
169 

Vasuki,  the  serpent,  95 

Vineyard,  Lord  of  the,  75 


Vishnu,  the  divine  feet  of,  2; 
Buddha  an  incarnation  of, 
49;  the  god,  57;  temples  of, 
76;  great  idol  of,  77;  su- 
premacy of,  92 ;  eighth  incar- 
nation of,  102;  names  of,  113 

Vishnu-purana,  quoted,  96, 104, 
106,  108,  112,  132,  160 

Walhouse,  quoted,  81 

Weber,  quoted,  161 

Webster's  Dictionary,  154 

Wheel,  law  of  the,  30 

Widows,  burning  of,  51;  posi- 
tion of,  86 

Wilford,  imposition  on,  136 

Williams,  Sir  M.  M.,  quoted, 
8,  9,  10,  16,  26,  35,  45,  48, 
55»  59,  60,  64,  68,  102,  123, 
133,  142,  161,  163 

Wilson,    Professor    H.    H., 
quoted,  53,  135 

"Wives  of  the  Snake,"  82 

Women,  the  burning  of,  7 

World's  Congress  at  Chicago, 

22,  48,   169 

Yadavas,  tribe  of,  101,  109 
Yama,  the  king  of  death,  6,  82; 

on  the  doom  of  the  wicked, 

38 

Yanda,  104 
Yasoda,  104,  160 
Yoga,  philosophy,  the,  54,  64 
Yogi,  Shiva,  the,  58 

Zoroastrianism,  48 


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